China's Appetite For Cars Absolutely Ravenous: Up 104 Percent

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Forget about the children starving down in China. Chinese are hungry for cars. And they are being fed.

Reports cited by China Daily and Gasgoo indicate a record November for China’s car sales, as predicted by TTAC.

Sales of passenger vehicles, including cars, multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs), sports-utility vehicles (SUVs) and minivans, more than doubled to 1.01 million last month, surging 103.7 percent year-on-year, and increased 9.5 percent from October, Rao Da, secretary-general of China Passenger Car Association, said according to Xinhua. Total vehicle sales in November 2009 reached more than 1.35 million units.


China’s auto sales exceeded 12 million units in the first 11 months, with sales for the full year of 2009 set to break the 13 million mark, Xinhua reports today.

China accounted for a quarter of the global auto industry sales last month, the highest-ever proportion.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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 3 comments
  • PeteMoran PeteMoran on Dec 08, 2009

    What's with that picture? I thought we had the world's longest "Freeway" carparks here in Australia. Bertel, don't forget to report this article.

  • Bertel Schmitt Bertel Schmitt on Dec 08, 2009

    That article will make the "sustainable growth" folks applaud the wisdom of the Chinese government. "Given the size of the Chinese market, only more energy-efficient cars can help sustain the auto boom."

    The price of gas is regulated in China. It would be a full time job to follow that one. The picture btw shows cars "lined up to buy petrol at a petrol station in Dongguan, south China's Guangdong province, August 17, 2005."

    • OldandSlow OldandSlow on Dec 08, 2009

      I was kind of hoping that this photo was of some kind of Chinese Special Stage Rallying. So, with 12 - 13 million cars sold in a year, how come you never report anything on Chinese motorsports? Surely, there has to be some competitive hoonage buried within those numbers.

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