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China's Record Sales March

When automotive industry experts, along with veteran manufacturers say that the Chinese market is the only one that moves ahead, despite the downward spiraling economy, they are not mistaking. The Chinese had a wonderful third month of in 2009, as vehicles sales in the country reached record levels.

According to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) reports quoted by just-auto.com, thanks in part to government measures, vehicle sales in China amounted to a total of 1.10 million units, up from the 1.06 million sold in the same month of last year.

This doesn't mean they had it easy. As today's national economies as a whole are intertwined, the sharp recession felt in export markets, especially in the US did have a negative effect on the Chinese economy. Yet, thanks to a swift government response and the introduction of measures like lowering purchase taxes allowed the market to sustain itself.

The set of measures undertaken also included indirect incentives. Along with lowering taxes for the purchasing of smaller cars, subsidies made to farmers in order to boost rural vehicle demands played an important role in increasing sale levels role.

As a twist, not only the Chinese automobile manufacturers benefited ted from the increasing demand, but desperate American manufacturer General Motors as well. GM China reported a 24.6 percent year on year increase. This translates into a record total volume of 137,000 units.

European manufacturers also look with hungry eyes at the Chinese market in particular and the Asian one in general. Porsche "counts on these markets and have full confidence in their future economic potential", Volkswagen plans to double its sales by 2018 and Mercedes Benz, after reporting a 50 percent increase in March, expects "double digit growth in China's luxury vehicles demand.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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