China overtakes Japan to become second biggest auto market

No one doubts the manufacturing capabilities of the Chinese market. Now, we have some proof of the growing purchasing power of this market, which has now overtaken Japan to become to world’s second largest automobile market in the world. As per latest statistics, more cars sold in China compared to Japan.

This means China is now the second largest auto market after the United States. As many as six million units were sold in the Chinese market in 2005. However, the margin of this difference between units sold in Japan and China is pretty small considering if we exclude the 160,000 imported cars, Japan would once again claim the second spot.

As per the national newspaper Peoples Daily, Chinese vehicle sales last year rose 14% on ‘04 to 5.8m units. This includes only those cars, which were manufactured in the country itself. However, the sales are expected to grow even further this year, which would perhaps clarify the distance between the two countries.