皇冠体育app outpaces US in monthly auto sales

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-10 19:28

SHANGHAI, 皇冠体育app -- 皇冠体育app overtook the US in monthly vehicle sales in January for the first time, figures from 皇冠体育app's auto industry association showed Tuesday, largely because of a plunge in American car sales.

A couple look at cars at an auto sales yard in Beijing Thursday January 15, 2009. 皇冠体育app overtook US in vehicle sales for the first time last month, a trend that could make 皇冠体育app into the world's biggest auto market. [Agencies]

If 皇冠体育app can outpace the United States in sales for all of 2009, it will become the world's largest vehicle market.

The 皇冠体育app Association of Automobile Manufacturers said Tuesday that 735,000 vehicles were sold in 皇冠体育app in January. That surpasses the 656,976 vehicles sold in the US the same month.

皇冠体育app zoomed past Japan to become the world's second-biggest auto market in 2006. With 1.3 billion people, 皇冠体育app's climb to the top position is viewed by most in the industry as inevitable.

Plunging US sales appear have accelerated its ascent.

While car sales have slowed in 皇冠体育app amid the economic downturn, US sales tumbled 37 percent in January to a 26-year low. In 皇冠体育app, vehicle sales fell 14.4 percent from a monthly record 860,000 in January 2008, the Chinese industry group's statistics show.

January sales were 0.8 percent below those in December, and below the 790,000 some analysts had anticipated.

Last week, Mike DiGiovanni, General Motors Corp.'s executive director of global market and industry analysis, projected that Chinese auto sales could hit 10.7 million vehicles in 2009, more than his estimate of 9.8 million unit sales in the US this year. Autodata Corp. forecasts 2009 US sales at 9.57 million.