Although rising auto sales in China reflect a strong domestic demand, it also raises concerns about the nation’s energy capacity and stokes worries over pollution and traffic pressures.
A surge in the number of vehicles could pose a major challenge to China’s energy reserves as the country depends highly on imports, said a China Daily report.
Imports accounted for 55 percent of domestic oil consumption as of August 2010.
Rising number of traffic jams pose a challenge to town planners in China. Traffic chaos resulted in 140 traffic jams in a single Friday evening last month, the report says.
While Beijing’s road system can accommodate 6.7 million vehicles, the number of registered cars in the city stood at 4.5 million in September and is expected to reach 7 million by 2015, piling pressure on the city’s capacity, the report said, quoting Beijing Transportation Research Center (BTRC).
According to Chen Bin, head of industrial coordination at the National Development and Reform Commission, emissions contributed to 50 percent of gaseous pollutants in Beijing in 2009.
Chinese officials, concerned that unchecked expansion of automotive industry could affect the wider economy, have demand a cap on overcapacity.
Bin said Chinese local governments' efforts to boost the output of automakers could hurt sustainable development of the national economy.
He also added that local authorities should stop setting unrealistic output quotas for automakers, and that preferential land and tax policies for auto firms should be ended.
China, which overtook the US as world’s largest auto market last year, is estimated to see its auto sales reaching 17 million in 2010, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
