China overtakes U.S. as world’s biggest auto market for first half of 2009
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That easily outpaced the U.S., where vehicle sales in the same period plunged to 4.8 million units. The only month where more vehicles were sold in the U.S. than in China was May. This rate also leaves the U.S. on track for an annual total of less than 10 million vehicles where as China is looking at more than 12 million.
Like most industrial countries, China was not completely immune from the global economic crisis. China's vehicle sales weakened in late 2008 as the crisis hit and the government needed to respond with a stimulus package with sales tax cuts, subsidies to trade in older cars and other incentives, reports the Associated Press.
China is one of the most important markets for the major automakers as the demand the country is providing is making up for the slack in more established markets. General Motors, for example, is experiencing a 38% rise in sales in China over the previous year, while its U.S. operations have gone bankrupt.
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Have an opinion?
China is already taking many of the manufacturing jobs that used to be in the US, so why shouldn't they get the cars too?
Meanwhile the US gets deeper in debt and has more and more unemployment...
...my how the tables are turning.
thats because it would be too expensive to import the Vauxhall compared to the cheap as chips Daewoo made Cruze.
rubbish car that it is. Holden should be concentrating on making the Commodore smaller.
thats because it would be too expensive to import the Vauxhall compared to the cheap as chips Daewoo made Cruze.
rubbish car that it is. Holden should be concentrating on making the Commodore smaller.
um just because the last Cruze was built by Daewoo, doesn't mean the new one is. the Daewoo factory isn't tooled for building Delta II platform cars.
Don't just blame China...
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