Risks of over-capacity in Chinese car making

The Chinese automobile market is now the world’s largest and demand for vehicles is set to continue expanding at a rapid pace as per capita incomes increase. The supply-side capacity of the car industry is being vastly increased partly as a result of inward investment - Nissan, Toyota, BMW, Hyundai, the Chinese automaker FAW and others have all announced plans to build new factories in mainland China. But are there risks of too much investment which could leave the industry with a buffer of excess capacity. This Business Day article says that there is and provides a useful reminder of elasticity of supply in a fast-growing sector - “Projecting market trends is always difficult for auto makers who often need up to two years to build new plants.” A hat tip to Shani Hartley for spotting it. I will post up some charts showing the growth of the Chinese car industry a bit later on today.