CRI听力:China's Used Car Market

Mr. Liu purchased a high-end secondhand car in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. But now he wants to sell it so he can buy another second hand car.

He says secondhand cars are affordable.

"When you buy a new car, you have to pay new car tax. And when you want to sell it, you lose money because you sell at a lower price minus the tax."

While sales of new cars have been booming, the secondhand car market has grown even faster. Sometimes it just takes a few months for new cars to be sold secondhand.

A growing number of car dealers are selling luxury used cars.

Beijing Used Car Trading Market is one of them. Some of their used cars go for over one million yuan - that's over 150 thousand US dollars.

Liu Hualin is Deputy manager.

"All of our cars are like new. This means they've spent little time in the garage, and have a small mileage."

The price of a high-end used car can be hundreds of thousands of yuan cheaper than new.

Secondhand car dealers can also provide maintenance. And sometimes buyers are given two days to try the car before paying.

The government has recently curbed sales of new cars in Beijing to tackle the city's growing traffic problems. Despite this the luxury car market has exploded.

Liu Hualin, vice manager in Beijing Used Car Trading Market again.

"The luxury used car market targets buyers across the country. Beijing buyers only account for part of this."

Now, many auto makers are racing to build used-car operations that can offer part-exchanges and servicing. And one big auto retailer says it plans to increase its focus on used cars to help improve profit margins.

Industry insiders say the number of used cars sold in 2011 is less than a quarter of the number of new cars sold. But these figures are expected to even out as the used car market grows while the new car market matures and slows.

For CRI, I'm Zhongqiu.