China '09 auto sales hit 13.6M units as world's No. 1

Shanghai, January 11 (Gasgoo.com) Vehicle sales in China last year rose 46.2% to 13.64 million units, according to an industry group's data issued today, and the country overtook the U.S. as the world's largest auto market for the first time, media reported.

Vehicle sales in December alone rose 91.7% from a year earlier to 1.41 million units, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said. Passenger car sales in the last month jumped 88.7% year on year to 1.1 million units, pushing full-year sales up 52.9% in 2009 to 10.3 million.

China's auto sales have surged since early 1999 as economic growth of over 9% a year boosts consumer spending in the world's most populous nation. The market will likely remain larger than the U.S., even as sales slow this year on a reduction in tax cuts.

Early last year, the Chinese government halved the sales tax on small cars to 5% and offered 5 billion yuan ($732 mln) to replace old ones. China has begun to scale back the measures this year, including raising the tax on new vehicles with 1.6-liter or smaller engines to 7.5%.

General Motors saw its China sales rose 67% last year to a record 1.83 million vehicles. Its passenger car venture Shanghai GM sold 727,620 cars, up 63%. Sales at its mini-van venture SAIC-GM-Wuling rose 64% to 1.1 million vehicles.

In the U.S., vehicle sales slumped 21% last year to 10.4 million units, the fewest since 1982, according to Autodata Corp. Since January last year, China has sold more vehicles than the U.S. on a monthly basis.