Automakers view China as one of the top markets in world

[ckramer]

Source: yn

BEIJING - Automakers issued ambitious forecasts Sunday of up to 65 percent sales growth in China's booming market this year — a striking contrast to the gloom in the United States and elsewhere.

Sales of some individual models to newly prosperous Chinese drivers soared by up to 100 percent in the first quarter over the same period of 2007, said executives speaking at the Beijing auto show.

Toyota Motor Corp. expects to sell 700,000 vehicles in China this year, up 40 percent from 2007, executive Yuzo Ushiyama said.

"As the 40 percent (target) is much bigger than the overall market growth, this is challenging," Ushiyama told reporters. "But we want to try (700,000 vehicles) as our goal."

Automakers are looking to China to drive sagging sales at a time when demand in the United States is expected to decline this year while Europe and Japan are flat.

Sales in China, already the world's No. 2 vehicle market after the United States, are forecast to grow 15 to 20 percent this year, driven by a boom that saw the economy grow by 10.6 percent in the first quarter.

Last year, Chinese drivers bought 5.5 million cars, minivans and SUVs and 3 million commercial vehicles, up from just 1.6 million vehicles sold in 1997. J.D. Power and Associates says sales should grow by 1 million vehicles annually through 2015.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080420/ap_on_bi_ge/china_auto_show;_ylt=A0WTcWaZawtIYCoAZRas0NUE

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I heard GM is doing good in China.

But don't take this for granted.

[rasputin1952]

1. The Chinese are a lot of things, but stupid isn't one of them...

They have to pay for petroleum as well, they will most likely go for the most economical vehicles they can get overall. The US market refuses to go toward economy, so our auto "giants" will lose again. There are only so many SUV's that will be bought, and most of them will be made outside of the US. Once again, our industry will have fallen on it's sword...:(

[Speck Tater]

2. Is nobody paying any attention to the fact that

more Chinese autos means more demand for petroleum products and higher oil prices? Or the fact that more Chinese autos means more greenhouse pollution and more global warming?

This fantasy that growth can continue without limits is going to be the downfall of the human race.

[LiberalFighter]

3. Build cars in China only with a 2 gallon tank.

[parkia00]

5. Great idea!

This should be done in the US too! Since we want to reduce emissions, and since there are greater number of cars in the US and and a greater number of lower mileage cars in the US, building cars with 2 gallon tank would have more effect.

[balantz]

4. Great economic shifts are beginning.

America will not be the richest nation for long.

Notice we are being robbed by the corporations and the government that they own.

We are being taken while there is something left to take from us, and the corporations are building markets in places like China where they can continue to reap.

Corporate giants are nations unto themselves.