asian car market

It took a massive recession to make it happen, but China eclipsed the U.S. in auto sales last year. Buoyed by government stimulus, Chinese consumers snatched up 10.3 million cars, while total vehicle sales reached 13.6 million. By contrast, in the U.S., which was the world's largest auto market for decades, sales were just 10.4 million cars and trucks, and 2009 will go down as the slowest sales year since 1982.