GM: China sells 790,000 vehicles in January

BEIJING, Feb.5 -- China overtook the United States in vehicle sales

for the first time last month, putting it on track to become the world's largest

auto market this year, according to a forecast by leading auto-maker General

Motors.

In a monthly conference on Tuesday, Mike DiGiovanni, General Motors

executive director of global market and industry analysis, said China sold about

790,000 vehicles in January, meaning that China has overtaken the U.S. in

monthly sales for the first time in history.

The official data for China's auto sales in January will not be released

until Feb. 6, but analysts expect that the figures will be pretty much in line

with GM's forecast.

"Chinese auto sales were 859,400 units in January last year. Even with some

slippage, the numbers for this year will keep pace," said Zhong Shi, an auto

analyst.

However, it is too soon to conclude that China will be the largest auto

market.

"Despite China's better showing, the situation is still grim," commented

Zhong Shi.

In the U.S., meanwhile, auto sales in January contracted dramatically, down

37.1 percent to 656,881 vehicles in January, the lowest monthly level in 27

years, the U.S. Automotive News reported.

Although China's car market has been cooling, with consumers wary of

spending money since the second quarter of last year, it has seen signs of a

recovery since the government announced measures last month to prop up their

auto market, which overtook Japan in 2006 to become the world's second-largest.

The measures seem to have had an impact, as a number of car makers are

celebrating a lucrative start to the year.

South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. reported its China sales, at

42,790 vehicles, were 17 percent higher than a year earlier. China's domestic

automaker Geely forecast that its sales in January will rise 25 percent from the

previous year, buoyed by the measures taken to encourage buying small cars

through tax breaks.

(Source: China.org.cn)