BEIJING, June 3 (Reuters) - Chinese auto dealers on

Tuesday called on automakers to stop offloading too many cars on

dealerships, as intense price wars are pressuring their cash

flow, driving down their profitability and forcing some to shut.

The proposal came on the heels of an official call over the

weekend for the auto industry to halt bruising price wars.

Conditions facing car dealers have become "even more severe"

amid a new round of hefty discounting since the second quarter,

the China Auto Dealers Chamber of Commerce said in a statement.

Automakers should set reasonable annual production and

sales targets and should not transfer inventory to dealers and

force them to stockpile cars, the chamber proposed on Tuesday.

The cycle of payments to dealers should be shortened and

dealers "shall not be coerced to withdraw from the network and

close their stores in the name of optimising network channels,"

it said.

A large dealer of Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD's

cars in the eastern province of Shandong went out of

business with at least 20 of its stores found to be deserted or

shut, local media reported last week.