Speaking of car sales in the Far East, the whisper number for China points to another solid month when March sales in the world’s largest car market will be announced next week.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters are expecting a 30-40 percent rise in sales of passenger vehicles for March.

Combined growth in January and February was 67 percent. Together with March, this will be another very strong quarter. Analysts had expected last year’s torrid growth to slow down, but so far, it isn’t behaving as expected.

Percentage numbers in the following quarters should be lower, as they compare with unprecedented growth in the previous year. Some months last year had seen triple digit gains.

China sold 13.6m units in 2009, which gained the country the unassailable top spot in the world. Even if growth slows to 20 percent, that’s more than 16m units. At the same time, U.S. analysts such as JD Power predict 11.7 units moved in the American market when 2010 is over. By that time, China will be half a lap ahead of the U.S.