China sees lots of room to boost car sales further

China has plenty of room to promote cars sales further in 2010, a senior Ministry of Commerce official said on Tuesday.

Chang Xiaocun, a bureau director at the ministry, cited schemes to trade in old vehicles for new ones at a discount, subsidised car sales in rural areas and tax breaks for smaller cars.

"Trading in old vehicles for new ones will be a long-term strategic task that will not only help expand consumption but will also help conserve energy and create new jobs," Chang told a news conference.

The existing array of incentives has helped power explosive growth in car sales this year. Passenger cars sales in October surged 75.8 percent from a year earlier to 946,400.