Last year, the number of 4S stores in China increased by 16.6%.

Last week, a survey and consulting agency released a statistical report. According to the survey results, the dealerships of 83 major automobile brands that China regularly tracked last year had a total of 21,139 stores, compared with 18,130 in 2011, a year-on-year increase of 16.6%. The growth rate has slowed down from the previous year, and the number in 2011 increased by about 28% year-on-year.

According to the report, in 2012, the sales throughput of China auto dealership stores (that is, the average sales volume of each dealership store) was 901 vehicles, which was 9% lower than the 990 vehicles sold in 2011. Based on the expected value of the Chinese auto market's sales growth to 21 million units, the agency forecasts that the single-store sales throughput will drop to 860 units in 2013. This means that in recent years, the growth in the number of dealerships will be higher than the growth in auto sales, which means that the sales of cars in each dealership will decline. The high single-store sales throughput of China's auto dealerships in the future will fall to the US level, about 500 to 600 vehicles.

The data also shows that in 2012, one, two and three-tier cities still accounted for 90% of new vehicle sales in China. Most of these cities are concentrated in the coastal areas of China. Last year, the number of dealers in first-tier cities increased by single digits. However, the number of dealers in second- and third-tier cities surged by 131% year-on-year.