China becomes world's largest auto market for 1st time in 1st half+

BEIJING, July 9 Kyodo - China for the first time outpaced the United States in auto sales on a half-year basis to become the largest auto market in the world as an auto industry group said Thursday that sales of made-in-China automobiles totaled 6.1 million units in the first six months this year.

The auto sales in China for the first half advanced 17.7 percent from a year
earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said. The figure is
a record high.
Sales in the United States totaled 4.8 million units from January through June.
In a report it released on its website, CAAM said sales of such automobiles
topped 1.14 million units in June, an increase of 36.5 percent on the year.
This is the first time that sales of locally made automobiles surpassed 1.1
million units four months in a row, it said.
China manufactured 15.2 percent more automobiles in the first half of the year
as compared to 2008, an increase CAAM said is due to a government stimulus
package to boost domestic spending.
''The good performance by the automobile industry in the first half of this
year is mainly because of the efficient measures China had put in place to
counter the financial crisis, and the different stimulus policies targeting the
automobile industry,'' CAAM said in its report.
The association also said that while exports of automobiles remained in
decline, it was ''cautiously optimistic'' about Chinese-made auto sales on the
domestic market in the second half of 2009.
It forecast that sales will exceed 11 million vehicles for the whole year,
topping its earlier forecast of 10.2 million vehicles.
==Kyodo