China's passenger car sales rose 84 percent in January from a year earlier, heavily boosted by minivans, China Passenger Car Association said on February 5.

A top government think tank has forecasted that China's economic growth will hit at least 10 percent in 2010, after the world's major developing country has regained momentum to the fast-track growth.

China replaced Germany in 2009 as Volkswagen AG's No. 1 market with total sales of 1.4 million vehicles,

CHANGCHUN, Jilin - FAW Mazda Motor Sales Co., (FMMS) plans to sell 150,000 cars in the Chinese market this year, according to a company statement published on its official website on January 26.

Dongfeng-Peugeot-Citroёn Automobile Co., Ltd. (DPCA), French automaker PSA's joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Group, launched its latest high-end compact car, the Peugeot 408, in Beijing on January 25. It was PSA's first world premiere of a new car generation in an overseas market.

Thanks to a series of incentivizing policies launched by the Chinese central government, the country witnessed a big leap forward in the automotive industry amid the chill of the global economic meltdown in 2009. When it harvested 13.79 million automobiles output and 13.64 million sold last year (up 48 and 46 percent year-on-year respectively), China surpassed the U.S. as the world's largest auto market in terms of new vehicle production and sales volume, a feat that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago. 

SHREVEPORT, LA - General Motors suspended production of Hummer vehicles on January 19, pending completion of sale of the Hummer brand to China's Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp.

China is expected to have both sold and produced over 25.3 million motorcycles in 2009, about 8 percent less than in '08, according to statistics released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

Sales of commercial vehicles in the first 11 months of 2009, which include both light commercial vehicles (light buses, light trucks and mini trucks) and heavy-duty vehicles (medium and large buses, and medium and heavy-duty trucks), reached 2.29 million units, growing 32.08 percent year-on-year. Output was a bit higher, at 2.34 million units, up 35.97 percent from the same period a year prior. Sales of semi-tractor trailers posted 186,349 units, down 1.73 percent in the January-November period of 2009. Chinese commercial vehicle makers sold 523,733 chassis during the period, a slight increase of 3.72 percent.

Overview of 2009

China produced and sold 13.79 and 13.64 million vehicles in 2009, an increase of 48 and 46 percent respectively over the previous year, according to the latest statistics release by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).