China’s automobile sales should hit an all-time high in March and help the country to beat the US in automobile sales during the first quarter, a key official from the national planning body said to Gasgoo.
“The 14 major automakers sold 1.026 million vehicles in China last month, which account for 90 to 91 percent of the total market,” said Chen Bin, director general of the Department of Industry at the National Development and Reform Commission.
The total sales will likely overtake the monthly sales record of 1.059 million units in March 2008.
This will be the third consecutive month that China has sold more vehicles than the US. It also puts the Middle Kingdom well on its way to become the worldwide king of auto sales in 2009, toppling the US from its threadbare throne. It will also help Volkswagen in its race to the #2 spot behind Toyota. VW is underexposed in the US, but very strong in China.
This is hardly something to be embarrassed by.
China has around four to five times the population of the United States. Frankly, although the carbon footprint is questionable I’m glad to see that the people of China now have enough disposable income to be able to afford a cheap car. What was more “embarrassing” is that for years Chinese people were unable to afford basic things we Westerners take for granted while making our shoes, many of our electronics, and most of our small disposable items.
I’m not a big fan of the way China’s done it but I’m glad that the Chinese people are beginning to see an upsurge in income.
“Let China sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world.”
Napoleon Bonaparte,
1,026 million?
euro punctuation? Or are the Chinese copying Oprah?
1,026 million?
euro punctuation? Or are the Chinese copying Oprah?
It’s 1,026 thousand. It says so in tiny print on the upper right hand corner of the graphic.
I wholeheartedly agree with The Luigiian. China has A LOT of people. This is simply the way it should be, just by numbers.
If we Americans really feel the need to be on top, just remember that with our military power, we could blow up every single car in China, probably a couple times over too. :)
(That was a joke. Come on, it’s funny. Laugh.)
I guess American car companies can do the same just through bad engine design … no need for the military.
twonius,
Bertel, who is living in China can explain it better, but this is a common mistake because they don’t use the same nomenclature we do. I believe that for them, 10k has the same sort of importance to them as 1k does to us. So where we say “40 thousand”, they say an equivalent to “4 tenthousands”.
Its been a while, but it’s something like that. So, large numbers often get confused.
Simple punctuation error – European style.
Corrected for US consumption, but I won’t fix their graphic. It’s pretty obvious.
In Europe 1.222,23 is the same as 1,222.23 is in the US.
Where it gets tricky is with the billions.
A billion in the US is a Milliarde in Germany, and 1000 Milliarden is a German Billion. Common and possibly very costly source of misunderstanding.
Landcrusher’s version is bogus.
I see no shame or embarrassment, it makes sense. The U.S. has been producing more cars than it can absorb and were almost overrun with them (no pun intended). The U.S. car population will probably decrease this year as upwards of 12 MM will be scrapped.
This topic has been covered on this site before, with well over one billion residents, why wouldn’t China’s car consumption outstrip the U.S.? Why wouldn’t their consumption of everything, including needed valuable natural resources also outstrip the U.S. and everyone else?
I don’t get this car consumption thing as some badge of honor.
yeah they use the same punctuation here in the Netherlands. It’s a little confusing at first.
I was trying to point out the mistake but it’s hard to do that with regard to punctuation and not sound like a smartass.
The Chinese sales have not increased much it is that the US sales have fallen off a cliff.
Likely one of the first signs of the future strength of the US economy. It’s a Brave New World.
A billion in the US is a Milliarde in Germany, and 1000 Milliarden is a German Billion. Common and possibly very costly source of misunderstanding.
I always laugh when they talk about billions and billions…. like it was all that much money.
Here in Venezuela is the same as Germany: US billion = millardo. 1000 millardos = 1 Billon
I think our billion is their trillion… which in our case would be an astounding amount of money
Wow! I didn’t realize that. In Slavic languages US “billion” is called “milliard”, but US “trillion” is a “trillion”. I’ve got very familiar with large numbers during hyperinflation in Ukraine. By the time I’ve got out of the Dodge, US$1 was worth 150K Ukranian money units.
The significance of this is that although China’s per capita GDP and average household income is much lower than the US, there exists a growing middle class that are able to afford a car. This is especially significant in China because like most of the world, a car is not an everyday necessity like it is in the US. So this is really measuring how many people are in the portion of the population with disposable income similar to the US and other western countries, and the number of people in that population is getting as large as the US consumer population.
For all the consumer products corporations such as Pepsi, Johnson and Johnson, GE, etc, etc, this is the beginning of a whole new era. They’ve been trying to penetrate the Chinese market for years, and this is what they’ve been waiting for. I for one am happy to hear that because it means they’ll be able to afford our stuff and the trade deficit can start to shift in our favor. As long as our companies don’t screw it up, but there are so many that lack vision and determination to compete in China.
And the other thing is that a large middle class, as it’s been ingrained into our heads, is a Good Thing, but that’s a whole other discussion…
Landcrusher is right, in Chinese, “ten thousand” is a “base” like a hundred, thousand, and million.
So 40,000 is indeed 4 “ten thousand” in Chinese, and 300,000 is 30 “ten thousand”. At million, we get back to the same base (Chinese call this 100 “ten thousand”, but it’s used commonly enough that it is an understood “base”). But then at billion, Chinese go the other way and their “base” is 100M (yi, 4th tone). So a billion = 10 “yi” in Chinese. It can get very confusing for people going from one culture to the other, although I’m surprised BS hasn’t picked up on this, but then again, that’s typical of expats in China.
When I was a kid and the Chinese were ‘real’ Communists, the dream was to
“Sell every Chinese person one Coca Cola a day”.
That was going to make us all rich!
However, we weren’t wise enough to foresee that they’d make their own Coca Cola, and just change the name.
I’m pleased for the people of China, and ultimately, a rising tide lifts all boats. The consumerism of the middle class in China is a business opportunity for everyone in the world. The stress on resources will drive new technology and efficiencies. All this is excellent news.
However, I’m still ashamed. Not that the Chinese bought more cars than America, but that WE (AMERICAN Companies) aren’t in there getting rich, rich, rich. We’re the leading Capitalist Pigs in the world, and we should be gorging on the opportunities. Have we gone soft and lazy? Or was it just a failure of vision?
I admit to having my personal vision fail me before. I nearly went insane the first time I saw a Hooters Restaurant. I mean, (forgive me)the opportunity was right there in my face! How could you NOT make money at a Hooters, selling “t*tt*es and beer”? And I missed it. Damn.
The rapid increase of car ownership in China will likely help bring on the next rise in oil prices ala 2008. As more and more oil is consumed in China, conservation, electric cars and ethanol are not going to be enough to hold oil prices down.
We are in a Post Peak Oil world and when more cars are being driven in big numbers it affects everyone. So get ready. As time goes by, China will be calling the tune in the oil market as the biggest consumer/importer.
The idea that we can continue our profligate low gas tax ways as in the past is delusional.
Folks, American companies are already in China. They’ve been there for many years (see, uh, Buick…previous article). However, it won’t help our trade deficit much, as they are mostly manufacturing their products in China. And if I’m correct, profits from Chinese operations cannot be repatriated to American operations, per Chinese law. So it seems as if the Chinese get the better end of the deal, of course. However, as we know, there are ways to get around not being able to directly repatriate funds.
So a Pepsi bought in China is made their, as is a Buick bought in China (further, the Buick’s imported parts are more likely to come from Korea or Germany, as they are rebadged Opel’s/Daewoo’s, not US Buicks)
Wow that graph is completely out of scale and actually makes it look much worse that it is. I do no like it when people play with the scale of charts in order to exaggerate the differences.
NN:
And if I’m correct, profits from Chinese operations cannot be repatriated to American operations, per Chinese law.
Not true. I have two companies in China. As long as taxes are properly paid, I can do with the profits whatever I want.
Actually, GM repatriated a lot of profits last year.
Have we gone soft and lazy? Or was it just a failure of vision?
The correct answer is; soft and lazy.
@jaje:
Actually it is perfectly scaled. The thing is, there is a 600,000 unit baseline there.
It makes sense…One nation is full of idiot gimme-gimme “socialist” peasants and the other has 1.4B people.
However, I’m still ashamed. Not that the Chinese bought more cars than America, but that WE (AMERICAN Companies) aren’t in there getting rich, rich, rich. We’re the leading Capitalist Pigs in the world, and we should be gorging on the opportunities. Have we gone soft and lazy? Or was it just a failure of vision?
Part soft and lazy but mainly naive (is that lack of vision?). We have for decades opened our borders for people and companies. China chooses to “look after their own”. If a business deal works to China’s advantage then they will allow it. If at any time it is to their advantage to take over the joint venture or foreign investment then they will, one way or another, do that.
When we become as “hungry” as China then things may turn around but right now we have firmly set our sights on achieving second class world status.
I think naturally by numbers, china should be buying more cars than the US.
Also, for punctuation, it seems euro = brazillian punctuation.
My wife always writes 1.000,00 for 1,000.00 (US)
and it drives me nuts.
She also does her dates “backwards” and speaks in kg and km.
She also writes 09/03 for march 9th. Ah well, at least she uses US time since she lives here :)
What is even more funny is she talks with my parents who have not been out of the us for 30+ years and still uses the same nomenclature. Hilarity is common.
@Robstar:
It’s about time the US starts using SI units like, you know, the rest of the world.