Beijing has 2.48 mln private vehicles by '08 end

Shanghai, February 23 (Gasgoo.com) By the end of 2008, there were 2,483,000 privately-owned vehicles in Beijing, up 17.1% year on year (y/y), and 1,744,000 of them are private sedans, up 19.2% y/y, xinhuanet.com reported today, citing the latest data from the capital city's statistics authorities.

The statistics show that by the end of last year, Beijing had 3,181,000 civilian vehicles, up 14.5% y/y, and of them there were 2,105,000 civilian sedans, up 16.4%.

In 2008, Beijing produced 766,000 vehicles, up 8.4%, and 283,000 of them are sedans, up 39.6%. To make itself one of China's auto giants, Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp (BAIC, or Beijing Auto) is set to expand its capacity by acquiring and restructuring other Chinese carmakers.

Beijing registered 65,970 new vehicles in the first 45 days of the year, Xinhua said last week. The Chinese capital had added nearly 1,500 new cars each day to its notoriously congested roads this year by mid-Feb.

Beijing has also introduced rules aimed at taking a fifth of private cars off the road each day, according to license plate numbers, to ease congestion and pollution.