China Has Become The Largest Auto Market In The World

China has taken the place of United States as the world’s top auto market. According to J.D. Power’s report in 2010, cited by Time magazine, Chinese and Indian consumers together bought just under 20 million new passenger vehicles. It’s 70 percent more cars than Americans purchased in that year.

There are several reasons to explain why this is happening. The requirement for automobile is increasing tremendously in China due to the booming economies, while United States is going through the gloomy economy owing to financial crisis. Besides, the Washington Post notes that Americans - especially young, fairly new drivers who once couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel and go anywhere and everywhere, and fast - do not regard the automobile as part of the American Dream quite so fervently any more.

In the newspaper’s words, they’re “ditching the keys for the keyboard” - more entranced by texts and apps and such than sleek steel lines and horsepower. As the Post put it, “younger people seem more interested in fiddling on the Internet than under the hood.”

In addition, American roads are more congested than ever. As the technical level becoming mature in public transport, more and more citizens would rather choose subway or underground than an automobile. Today, the expenditure on gas is so expensive that it is more economic to use public transport than a gas-guzzling automobile. Dollar-a-liter gasoline prices can be prohibitively expensive for young people who are trying to pay off their college tuition loans.

Moreover, the anti-auto-pollution campaign has struck a chord with environmentalists. And millions of young people have moved back in with Mom and Dad, who likely have a big, free automobile handy, right out in the driveway. Furthermore, in more and more cities, when young people feel an urge to get behind the wheel and head out, a few thumb clicks on their mobile devices will find them a fuel-efficient car to rent for an hour or a day or a week, and pay for it at the same time. They don’t have to worry about car payments - or about insurance, whose costs are built into the price.

Auto dealers are still finding lots of buyers for high-horsepower, sporty “muscle cars.” But more and more of those buyers are older people, reliving the good-old days. A classic “car song” from 1964 refers to Ford’s stylish and powerful Thunderbird model: “Daddy took the T-bird away,” it goes. And it looks like he’s done it again - to use for himself.