China, World’s Biggest Auto Market, Gets Bigger

VOA Breaking News (Voice of America)
December 9, 2010 at 11:50 am

An industry group says auto sales rose dramatically last month in China, already the world's largest market for vehicles.

Figures released Thursday by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed that 1.7 million vehicles were sold in November, a 27 percent increase over the same month last year.

The surge virtually ensures that China will remain the largest auto market in spite of recovering auto sales in the United States.

Analysts said sales were boosted by a rush to buy vehicles before the year-end expiration of government subsidies for fuel-efficient cars and to avoid an expected increase in license fees in some cities. Slower growth is expected next year.

In Beijing, where traffic jams and pollution are growing problems, more than 20,000 new cars went on the road in the first week of December alone.

U.S. auto-makers were among those boosted by the boom.

General Motors, the first company to sell more than 2 million cars in China in a year, said it saw its sales rise 11.2 percent last month following a 19.6 percent gain in October.

Ford Motor Company, starting with much lower sales, reported a 35-percent jump in November.