{"id":542027,"date":"2010-04-23T12:16:01","date_gmt":"2010-04-23T16:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.caranddriver.com\/?p=19755"},"modified":"2010-04-23T12:16:01","modified_gmt":"2010-04-23T16:16:01","slug":"beijing-2010-89-world-debuts-provide-proof-that-the-chinese-auto-market-is-exploding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/542027","title":{"rendered":"Beijing 2010: 89 World Debuts Provide Proof That the Chinese Auto Market is Exploding"},"content":{"rendered":"

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With a claimed 990(!) vehicles on display and 89 world debuts, the 2010 Beijing auto show was a lot to take in, especially for this jet-lagged Western journalist. I\u2019ve spent the past couple of days in and around Beijing observing China\u2019s blooming and booming car culture\u2014it\u2019s nothing short of astounding.<\/p>\n

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The show\u2019s 89-debut tally includes both passenger and commercial vehicles, with a large portion of them\u201475, to be precise\u2014coming from Chinese manufacturers. I would have attempted to count them all, but it\u2019s difficult to discern a new model from something that\u2019s not so fresh, what with my near-total unfamiliarity with the Chinese market and the fact that half of the new Chinese cars resemble old, recycled designs from Europe, Japan, and the U.S.<\/p>\n

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Proof that the Chinese car market is growing too quickly to keep up with: While walking the show floor with one of our colleagues from Car and Driver<\/em> China, I asked about a small stand of cars from GONOW, and he told me that he wasn\u2019t familiar with the brand at all. I suppose similar problems plagued the coonskin-cap-wearing American auto journos of the early twentieth century when there were scores of automakers sprouting up across the country. “I say, Jackson, I’ve not caught previous word of Ticonderoga Trundlebus, but their horseless carriages look splendid! Huzzah!”<\/p>\n

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The impact of the increasing number of cars on the market and increasing rate of consumption becomes all the more real when you\u2019re sitting in Beijing gridlock. Rush hour (the high-traffic period, not the Chan\/Tucker flick) lasts about five hours on a good day in Beijing, longer on Fridays, and my guide estimated doubling that figure today as a result of the bumper-to-bumper and mirror-to-mirror traffic caused by the auto show. China was the number-two national car market in 2009 and it\u2019s already on pace to handily beat the U.S. at its own game this year. It\u2019s a brave new automotive world here in the People\u2019s Republic.<\/p>\n

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Related posts:<\/p>\n

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  1. Beer Goggles at the 2008 Beijing Auto Show: 5 Chinese Cars Ready for America<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Beijing 2010: Saab and Spyker Stand Together<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Beijing 2010: The Next Hyundai Accent Hides in Plain Sight<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    With a claimed 990(!) vehicles on display and 89 world debuts, the 2010 Beijing auto show was a lot to take in, especially for this jet-lagged Western journalist. I\u2019ve spent the past couple of days in and around Beijing observing China\u2019s blooming and booming car culture\u2014it\u2019s nothing short of astounding. The show\u2019s 89-debut tally includes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6407,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-542027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mobile","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6407"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542027\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}