Last month, for the first time in the history of the automobile industry, vehicle sales in China (735,000) overtook those in the US (656,976). The beginning of the end for the reigning world power? We’d rather wait a while and see for ourselves. As for the present, China moving closer to becoming the world’s largest auto market is due largely to the 37 per cent fall in vehicle sales in the US in January 2009. China herself saw a decline in car sales in Jan, but it wasn’t as severe as in the US. Carmakers around the world are becoming increasingly dependent on China to sell their products. The most popular automakers in the country are US based General Motors and Germany based Volkswagen, though domestic companies are fast catching up.
