For the first time ever, the U.S won't be the biggest car market in the world. With projected sales of 12.7 million cars this year, the Chinese are absolutely going to destroy our 10.3 million projected sales. But they cheated!
Everyone knows the Chinese will eventually sell more cars than any other country, but the switch wasn't expected so soon. A mixture of tax cuts and Chinese stimulus actions increased sales of new cars in that country by a whopping 44%. We tried to stimulate the market, too, but even with Cash For Clunkers, the lagging U.S. economy was setting automakers in this country up for a fall.
It's expected the two countries will trade the crown back and forth, but with 1.3 billion consumers, China will almost certainly settle in as the world's largest market.
But can't we get some credit if the cars are clones of American cars?
[AP]