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China passes Japan as the world’s #2 automobile market

January 12, 2007
By Ken Worsley


New car sales in China jumped 37% last year. Normally, that would be news in and of itself. However, there is a much bigger story behind those numbers, which you already know from the headline:

China has passed Japan and is now the world’s #2 vehicle market. Overall vehicle sales in China stood at 7.2 million in 2006, having risen by 25.1 percent. Sales in Japan fell slightly to 5.7 million units, following a trend that has seen month on month sales in Japan decline for the past 18 months.

GM and Ford have benefited greatly from the rise in sales in China. In 2006, GM saw sales of its Buick brand grow by 24.9% - with 304,230 units being moved in China. Now that’s improbable sales.

Kevin Wale, president of GM China, had this to say:

Vehicle sales continued to outpace most projections as a result of unprecedented consumer demand for passenger cars.

Sounds good for them, especially since sales are projected to top 8 million units in 2007.

Filed Under Automotive, Business, China 

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