The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association today officially conceded defeat and yielded the title “world’s top automobile manufacturer in 2009” to China, reports the Nikkei [sub]. The world had known for quite some time that China made more than 13m cars in 2009, and that Japanese production was a mere shadow of its former self. But it needs some time to sink in and to make it official.

Note: All that follows are production data, as opposed to sales data. In China, production data nearly equal sales data. Couldn’t be more different than in Japan. Here, usually twice as many cars are made than sold. Half of the Made in Japan cars are exported. Usually. Let’s see what happened this time. (Read More…)