China's passenger car sales rose 48 per cent in June on the same month last year, according to data released yesterday. The rise consolidates a remarkable recovery that has catapulted China to the top position in the world vehicle market so far this year.
The strength of China's vehicle sales – total vehicles sales rose 18 per cent for the first half year to 6.1m from the same period last year – has surprised car market analysts, government officials and even the country's carmakers, many of whom are scrambling to produce enough vehicles to meet demand.
Some car dealerships have reported shortages of vehicles and western carmakers such as Volkswagen and General Motors have had to increase production sharply at their Chinese joint ventures to meet local demand.