China auto sales may reach 17.05 mln units in 2010

China automobile production and sales will come to 17.05 million in 2010 and China will remain to be the world's largest new vehicle market and the largest automobile production and sales country, according to the recently announced third in-depth study by an institute of China's auto market index.

In view of China's auto sales in the first four months and the new energy incentives as well as other relevant policies, the institute predicted that China automobile production and sales would break four marks of 14 million, 15 million, 16 million and 17 million and increase 25% to 17.05 million this year.

The reason for China auto market's great potential of continuing to be the world's No.1 is that the Chinese auto market is now driven by the state policy and Chinese economy, particularly by the economic boom.

Moreover, many authoritative institutions, including the World Bank, have predicted that China's economic growth will be more than 10% in 2010, which will surely provide a good environment for development of the Chinese auto market this year.

China's auto market has moved into the second phase of development from 2009 and the domestic consumer demand will continue to be very strong.

In addition, the penetration rate of cars in China is still low. The registered vehicles per 1000 people are only 20.5 units and many Chinese families are the first-time buyers, especially in the second- and third-tier cities where the first-time buyers account for a higher proportion. Therefore, under this background, China is more than likely to be the world's largest auto market in the long term.