China's Car Sales Growth Is Absolutely Massive

Joe Weisenthal | Mar. 10, 2010, 11:11 AM

In case you still had any doubt why China is loathe to sign onto some treaty that would limit their emissions, just get a load of the latest data on their market.

The following commentary and chart come courtesy of Waverly Advisors:

Chinese domestic automotive sales rose by 46.40% year-over-year in February to 1.21 million total units sold according to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, with the passenger car segment up by 55% from last February's levels and with estimated production levels for passenger cars slightly exceeding sales. To put this in context: With last month's Lunar New Year celebration taking up perhaps 30-40% of the total production and sales days with the two week long celebration and the annual visit home that millions of migrant workers make, these sale and production levels are enormous.

The Chinese automotive industry is continuing to ramp up capacity to meet demand. Changan Automobile, the 4th largest domestic producer by sales (and a strategic partner of Ford) yesterday reported 2009 total revenues up by 88.4% on a 64.1% increase in total units sold, adding that the company anticipates government policies will continue to support industry growth at the present pace for the foreseeable and that facility expansion will likely continue. Changan is not alone in ramping up capacity, smaller rival Chery, best known for compact cars, recently announced a new factory launch in Eros in inner Mongolia despite the fact that their new facilities in Wuhu and Dalian have not yet been completed. Indeed there are anecdotal media reports of worker shortages as factory workers failed to return to coastal regions after the new year celebration choosing instead to remain closer to home at new inland automotive factories.

<SNIP>http://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-car-sales-growth-is-abolustely-massive-2010-3

So it is taking a while.

You need something for the car to travel on.

but I remember how astonishingly fit they were in the 80s when the bicycle was the norm. Even the old guys in a delegation could leave us in the dust, they riding scrounged boneshakers and us on our shiny 10 speeds.

They're not stupid, and eventually they're going to figure out that they're not just killing off the surplus population with pollution, they're making everybody sick in the process, and they'll do something about it.

In the short term, it's a disaster.

The depletion of resources and environmental toxicity is proceeding at an exponential pace. Capitalism's weaknesses and exploitative traits will be even more nakedly exposed.