China Passes U.S. As World's Top Car Market

BEIJING—Automobile sales in China last year raced past the U.S. market for the first time to take the top spot, as Chinese government incentives helped sales surge 46% from a year earlier to 13.6 million vehicles amid a broader global slowdown.

December auto sales in China nearly doubled, increasing 92% from a year earlier to 1.41 million vehicles, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said Monday.

Record sales in China last year coincided with the lowest sales total in the U.S. since 1982, as the credit crisis and the resulting slowdown in the economy prompted U.S. consumers to scale down ...

Source: http://online.wsj.com/