China auto sales to hit 18 million in 2010, J.D. Power and Associates says

Earlier this month, General Motors announced that it has sold 2 million vehicles in China in a single year. FoMoCo is also enjoying strong sales in China and plans on adding 66 new dealerships in China by the end of 2010 bringing its total to 100 showrooms in China in 2010 – and that’s mainly because China is a booming automotive market.

According to J.D. Power and Associates, sales in the country – including medium and heavy-duty commercial trucks – will grow more than 30 percent to 18 million units this year (that’s a pretty significant number of you sit back and think about it). In October, China’s light vehicles sales hit 1.5 million units.

However, come 2011, J.D. Power says that China’s auto market will grow at a slower rate than in the past two years. Currently, consumers are rushing to purchase vehicles before the central government’s sales incentive expires. Starting Jan. 2009, the government cut purchase tax for vehicles with 1.6 liters size engines and below from 10 to 5 percent.

Now with China’s auto population growing, their has been some damage to the environment and a rapid increase in oil consumption. J.D. Power believes that for this reason, the government will not allow auto sales to grow as fast as they did in 2009 and 2010.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)