New car sales in Beijing rise to 2,000 a day

Shanghai, September 18 (Gasgoo.com) Sales of new cars in Beijing have spiked to about 2,000 units a day, a trend that will put four million vehicles on the streets of the Chinese capital by the end of this year, the AFP reported today.

About 60,100 cars were sold last month in Beijing - the city's largest monthly car sales this year and nearly double the sales volume of a year earlier. China's passenger car sales, including sedans, MPV, SUV and minivans, soared 94.7% year-on-year to 849,376 units in August.

Similar monthly sales are expected in the remainder of the year, with private buyers powering the spree, according to auto dealers in the capital city, where car purchases averaged about 1,200 a day in the first seven months of this year.

If sales remains at 2,000 cars a day, the capital will have a total of four million vehicles on its already congested roads by the end of 2009, an increase of one million cars in just two years and more exhaust emissions into the city's air.

The government has tried to curb air pollution, including traffic control measures, moving factories out of the city, and requiring cars and buses to use cleaner fuels. But some wealthy drivers were trying to skirt vehicle controls.

Beijing has been one of the most polluted cities in the world, due in part to the fast-rising number of cars on the roads.