China’s heavy and medium truck and tractor markets remained soft in Q3 2015. Total sales declined more than 26 percent year over year and 30 percent quarter over quarter. This was reported in the most recent China Commercial Vehicle Outlook, jointly published quarterly by ACT and China’s State Information Center (SIC).

The Outlook includes an overview of the Chinese economy and a review and forecast of China’s heavy and medium-duty truck and bus markets, as well as analysis of OEM market shares within China.

“Heavy and medium truck and tractor markets may show temporary signs of improvement, but will remain subdued for the foreseeable future, until changes in both the country’s economy and the evolution of its transportation industry have stabilized,” said Robert Perkins, senior global business consultant at ACT. “The country’s transportation industry is undergoing several changes that will impact vehicle demand, including rapidly improving vehicle quality, significant logistics efficiency, and higher capacity vehicles.”

The pace of growth of China’s economy slowed to 6.9 percent on a year-over-year basis in Q3’15, down slightly from the 7 percent pace recorded in the previous two quarters. For perspective, full-year real GDP growth in 2014 was 7.4 percent, while 2013’s economic growth was 7.7 percent. China’s real GDP has been trending downward from double-digit levels and is now settling into a new normal in the single-digit range, according to the report.