| 21-04-2008
Global automakers made ambitious forecasts Sunday of up to 65 percent sales growth in China's booming market this year - a striking contrast to the gloom in the United States and elsewhere.
Sales of some models soared by up to 100 percent in the first quarter over the same period of last year, said executives speaking at the 2008 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, which opened yesterday to the media for a preview. The show opens to the public from Tuesday to Sunday.
Automakers are looking to China to drive sagging sales at a time when demand in the US is expected to decline this year while Europe and Japan are flat.
Sales in China, already the world's No 2 vehicle market after the United States, are forecast to grow 15 to 20 percent this year, driven by a boom that saw the economy grow by 10.6 percent in the first quarter.
Last year, Chinese bought 5.5 million cars, minivans and SUVs and 3 million commercial vehicles, up from just 1.6 million vehicles sold in 1997. J.D. Power and Associates says sales would grow by 1 million vehicles annually through 2015.
A record 9,000 journalists, including 1,000 from abroad, were given a preview of seven models making their global debuts.
Organizers expect around 600,000 visitors, including 30,000 from overseas.
The biennial auto show is being held at the enlarged China International Exhibition Center, which reopened late last month at a new site on the northeast outskirts of Beijing.
Altogether 892 vehicles, including 55 concept cars, will be on show in an exhibition area of 180,000 sq m, and nearly a third of them are homegrown models, organizers said.
The biennial exhibition is one of the three major auto shows in the country. The other two are staged in Shanghai once every two years since 1989 and annually in Guangzhou.
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