Gasgoo.com (Shanghai) - Despite several advancements made in 2012, there were still a lot of problems remaining in the Chinese automotive market last year. The poor progress of the new energy vehicle industry, declining market share of own brand manufacturers, increasing traffic congestion and rising pollution rates are all issues that the country has had to deal with over the past year. In the run-up to the new year, auto.sohu.com.cn invited reporters to comment on the state of market in 2012. The website then summarized their comments into seven key points, which are presented below.

At the peak of the global economic and automotive industry crisis, when new car registrations in mature markets slumped, Electric Vehicles (EV), alongside plug-in hybrids, were hailed the miraculous solution which could fundamentally change and therefore save the global automotive industry. As such it was thought that millions of consumers in highly populated fast growing markets could continue to become car owners without damaging the planet.