China to be world’s third largest automaker

An economist has said China's auto industry is to experience rapid growth in the coming 15 years and the country will become the world's largest automaker by 2020.

"China's per capita GDP has topped 1,000 US dollars, which means a growing number of Chinese citizens will be able to afford private cars and the auto industry will outgrow the country's GDP, " said Dr. Feng Fei, an economist with the Development Research Center of the State Council, the Chinese cabinet.

China's auto output hit 5.07 million units in 2004, ranking fourth among the world's largest automakers following the United States, Japan and Germany.

Dr. Feng said China's auto production is set to hit 6 million units this year, 9.6 to 10 million in 2010 and 14 to 15 million in 2020.

"By then, China will become the world's No. 1 auto consumer and producer, too. Added value yielded by the automaking sector will make up two to 2.3 percent of the country's GDP, up from 1.6 percent in 2004," Dr. Feng said at a recent forum on the outlook of the Chinese economy in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

He said China still lags behind the developed countries in the auto industry. "In Germany and the United States, for example, the auto industry contributes 8 percent and 3 percent respectively to their GDP." PeopleDaily