In China, SUV Sales Up 39%, 1,000 CC & Smaller Models Down 28.9% In First Half Of 2007

[hatrack]

EDIT

"The QQ is very small, you know, and I need more space because I will spend so much time in the car," said her father, Liu Yue. He explained that from their home in suburban northern Beijing, the drive to his job downtown as a construction engineer will take an hour each way - a 30-minute improvement over the city buses he now takes. So he and his wife signed the papers for the Eastar, a full-size, four-door sedan selling for 98,888 yuan (about $13,075).

In the first half of 2007, sales of cars with engine displacement smaller than 1 liter declined by 28.9 percent over the same period last year while sales of all sedans increased by 25.9 percent, and sales for SUVs rose 39 percent, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

For the country's legions of new millionaires, biggest is best. Last year, in one much-publicized event, a group of coal mine owners from northern Shanxi province came to Beijing, paid cash for 10 Hummers at 1.3 million yuan each, or $170,000, and flamboyantly drove them back to Shanxi in a convoy. "Purchasing power is rising, so it's simple - to drive a higher-end car gives you more face," said Su Hui, general manager of the Asian Games Village Automobile Exchange, the mall where the Liu family was shopping.

Fittingly, Su's establishment is huge - a sprawling expanse of more than 100 auto dealers, the largest auto mall anywhere in China. "This trend toward bigger cars is new this year," he said. "It looks more glorious."

EDIT

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/08/18/MNV8RIVTQ.DTL

[Deja Q]

1. That's their choice.

Which means, should the world start complaining about the quality of their products, will they lose their buying power?

Maybe 'free market' has an upswing after all?

[Justyce]

2. Seems like China's & India's economies are beginning to thrive while ours craters...

Gee, wonder why.

[Javaman]

3. Nice to know that we won't be driving off the cliff alone. :) nt

[hatrack]

4. Yep, they're going to enjoy an American Lifestyle or die trying . . .

Alternative B seems a bit more plausible in the medium-term.

[bananas]

6. like Thelma and Louise

[Javaman]

7. And just who is Thelma and who is Louise in this situation?

I'm thinking the US is more of the Thelma type.

[tom_paine]

5. Kind of crazy to watch it all unfold...

What could the alien anthroplogists charting the Human Race's course to extinction, be thinking when they see all of it?