Bumpy ride ahead: Carmakers in China brace for zero growth after tough 2018

Automobile sales in China fell about 14% in November from a year ago, steepest in nearly seven years and the fifth straight decline in monthly numbers

Car makers in China are bracing for zero to tepid growth in sales this year, after a tough 2018 when the world's top auto market probably contracted for the first time in two decades, as slowing economic growth drags on demand.

Companies from homegrown Geely to Britain's biggest automaker Jaguar Land Rover have in recent days flagged caution about China sales in 2019, hit also by Beijing's trade war with the United States.

"We should notice the big uncertainties among macro economy and trade tensions, which hit the auto market in China last year and may happen again this year," Yale Zhang,