China passes US auto market in first-half sales

China passes US auto market in first-half sales

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BEIJING (AP) -- China surpassed the United States as the world's biggest auto market for the first half of 2009 after June sales soared 36.5 percent from a year earlier, according to data reported Thursday.

China's vehicle sales in June rose to 1.14 million, the second-highest month to date after April's 1.15 million units, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said. Passenger car sales hit a monthly record of 872,900 units.

Total sales for the first half of the year rose to 6.1 million, up 17.7 percent from a year earlier, the industry group said. That outpaced the United States, where passenger car sales in the same period plunged to

4.8 million amid an economic slump.

China's auto sales weakened in late 2008 as the global financial crisis hit but rebounded after Beijing launched a stimulus package with sales tax cuts, subsidies to trade in older cars and other incentives.

Global automakers are looking to China to help drive revenues as they struggle with falling demand in North American and other markets.

"It was really hard for our auto industry to achieve such a proud result against a backdrop of general gloom in the international auto industry," the association said in a statement.

China, with 1.3 billion people, has long been expected to overtake the United States as the biggest vehicle market. But the U.S. economic slump hastened that process by depressing American sales while China surged ahead.

China surpassed U.S. auto sales for five of the past six months. The United States pulled ahead temporarily in May before dropping back with

859,847 cars sold in June.

Analysts expect China's sales this year to top 10 million vehicles, while one Chinese industry group says the total could exceed 11 million.

By contrast, analysts say U.S. sales in June, when adjusted for seasonal variations and multiplied to produce an annual rate, were the equivalent of 9.7 million vehicles for 2009. That is down sharply from the 2007 peak of 16 million vehicles sold.

Commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses are a bigger share of sales in China than in the United States or Japan. Some observes say that makes comparing figures from the three markets misleading.

In 2008, Chinese sales included 6.8 million passenger cars and 2.6 million commercial vehicles, according to the CAAM.

General Motors Corp. said its China sales in the first half soared 38 percent from a year earlier, while GM's U.S. operations were forced to obtain government aid and reorganize under bankruptcy court protection.

Ford Motor Co. said its first-half China sales were up 14 percent.

"The government took a series of policies in the first half of the year to promote the development of the auto industry," the industry association said. "Auto sales and production pulled out of their trough to show a good development trend."

Reply to
Jim Higgins
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Well, duh....

Let's do some simple math:

US: ~320 million people China: 1300 million people

Gee.... I wonder which nation will have a higher demand for cars as each nation reaches the number of buyers capable of affording a car?

Who do you think will buy more coffee cups?

OH SHAT! IT'S THE RED CHINAMEN!!!!!!

Wait....I thought they were yellow. Why are they now red?

As an average north american I can't seem to keep my colors straight.

Anyway, whatever color they are, they're taking our jobs!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply to
Rick_LT1

But that is what is going on. Lethargic fat expensive taxing US/Canada can't compete. And in China that is moving towards a more captalistic model their middle class is growing at an unimaginable rate. Unlike US/Canada where the middle class is shrinking. And if you live in a city like Peking, you may not need a car.

Western media likes to manage the herd into the government line.

Because we are inefficient, over burdened with taxes, fat, lazy, debt lovers and liberalholics sheeples.

Out governments are fighting a war, an economic war they have already lost and we are the casualties. Because we are too stupid to vote for a rational government for the people by the people.

Reply to
Canuck57

EXACTLY! So, in the end, China wins!

No matter how hard you fight, you can't dispute the raw numbers.

19th century: UK 20th century: USA 21st century: China

We can't fight it. It's inevitable.

At least we have plenty of nukes.

Reply to
Rick_LT1

They win now too. Projected economic growth is 8 or 9% for the next year, their middle class is growing at an assounding rate. They already have more working middle class than all of the working, retired, dependant people in North America combined!

Yep, just realizing it goes a long way to cope with it. Too much rot and imoral behavior in NA for this to be reversed. Corruption from the top down. Too expensive.

Will not do much good but to toss us all back into throwing rocks. If China remains peaceful, and I think they are onto this, they will grow and dominate by default. US on the other hand is arrogant enough to think they are going to change a barbaric muslim culture by expensive occupation of other coutries. So far, China has remained interverted and as long as they do, the might will be theres as they are not wasting resources in corruption, arrogance, liberalism, debt-denial and bullshit.

Reply to
Canuck57

I'm a US citizen, and I don't think you realize just how crazy our populace is.

No matter what happens, if the USA feels truly threatened by another country, our leaders are crazy enough to let loose with our nuclear weapons.

The American people will DEMAND it!

As a society, we have the collective mentality that if we go down, we take everyone else with us. EVERYONE!

If any country seriously takes a swipe at us, we will end all life on Earth. We ARE that vengeful!

Reply to
Rick_LT1

Then how come they didn't just nuke Afganistan and Iraq? The war could have been over in the same 24 hours 911 took. Fast, decisive, absolute good shot at Osama's ass and wasted.

Her is a hint, it was a chance for politicians to invest in arms manufactures, then announce a war and profit!

Hardly, most haven't figured out Iraq and Afganistan isn't a war, it is a cultural conflict. The women sleep, feed and progate with the enemy and we in the west can't comprehend the reason we lose over there is we are fighing families of backwards and barabaric people that know of no other way to live.

And we can't get it through our heads for government interfence and influential profit and media management.

People in the west are not heard, they are herd by thier governments.

Yep, destroy what you fear and fail to comprehend whilst feeding the sociopath power seeker at the top that serves his hidden masters.

I expect sometime this century the meaning of biologicial warfare, urban terrorism, small yeild nukes going off in cities will become a way of life.

Mankind is it's own worst ememy. And like the billions of civilizations before us in the universe, they extinguish themselves by failing to socially evolve as fast as their technology. In fact I would surmise the reason we have not contacted other intelligent life forms is most species on the technical eveloutionary curve fail. For those few that succeed, they don't want to get involved in our barbaric mess and view us like a history lesson.

Reply to
Canuck57

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