Whole the world markets were seesawing on a knife edge as western investors continued to look for reasons to invest, China’s automobile market continued its robust growth in January, with sales surging 84 percent from a year earlier, heavily boosted by minivans. A total of 1,218,722 cars, sport-utility vehicles, multi-purpose vehicles and minivans were sold last month, an increase of 84.2 percent year-on-year and 5.1 percent from December.

GM’s mini commercial vehicle joint venture SAIC-GM-Wuling, China’s largest minivan maker, reported year-on-year sales growth of 59.6 percent in January, with 119,969 units sold. In the first quarter, he said it was his “conservative estimate” that 900,000 more passenger cars would be sold in China than in the same period last year.

China’s total vehicle sales would hit 17 million this year, up 25 percent from a year earlier. Last year, China’s passenger car sales jumped 52.9 percent to 10.3 million, as the auto industry witnessed total sales of 13.6 million vehicles, up a record 46 percent year-on-year, making the country overtake the United States to be the world’s biggest auto market for the first time.

Global leading rating agency Moody’s said this week that it upgraded its forecast for the Chinese light vehicle market to 14.3 million in 2010 and 15.7 million in 2011, up from 11.8 million of this yea, respectively.

I find it funny to read Dick Chanos who are bearish on a country that is bursting with such growth.

Fresbee
Investing Contrarian