Ten lanes full of traffic cross in front of the Forbidden City in Beijing.
New vehicle sales may be declining in the U.S. and Europe, but in China the automotive industry is a booming business. Car companies from all over the world are seeing increased sales in the world’s most populous country. In 2007, according to Automotive News, vehicle sales in China exceeded five million for the first time, a 21 percent increase over 2006. Sport-utility vehicles and luxury cars had the fastest growth, with SUVs seeing a 50 percent increase in sales over the previous year.
For many automakers China has become a more important venue than North America. China is now Buick’s largest market. Audi now sells more cars in China than anywhere else except Germany. Volkswagen saw a 33 percent increase in Chinese sales. In addition, many of these non-Chinese brands are being built in China. Of the more than 100,000 vehicles that Audi sold in China last year, more than 90 percent were built in Changchun in northeastern China.
Read: Beijing Motor Show Highlights
Sales of luxury cars have increased due to a per capita income increase, while prices of cars have decreased. This explains why during our time in Beijing at the motor show the most common cars on the road seemed to be luxurious Audis and Buicks.
Of course the domestic companies in China have seen impressive sales increases as well. Automakers such as Chery, Geely, BYD, Great Wall and others have all seen sales rise since 2006, and all had quality offerings on display at the Beijing Motor Show. Remember those car companies’ names — sometime in the not-so-distant future you may be able to drive one in North America.
Growth Not All Good
But with all the obvious benefits of double-digit sales growth, there is also a downside. Based on our experience in Beijing, the city doesn’t have the infrastructure to handle the influx of new cars. Highways and surface streets are completely clogged during rush hour, and the only time we saw light traffic was at 4 a.m.
Taking a taxi to the motor show — which was about 25 miles north of Beijing — took almost two hours, and we saw no alternative routes to the venue. Drivers in China seem to have their own way of dealing with this extreme congestion, and it’s not for the faint of heart. In what seems like a constant game of “chicken,” three or four cars try to occupy the same spot, often making their own lane between the ones painted on the road. Taxi drivers in Beijing use their car horns more than cabbies in New York City.
View Pictures: Sights of Beijing
Granted, the heavy traffic was exacerbated by attendees heading to the auto show, but one wonders how the city will be able to function when the Olympics take place this summer. Since vehicle sales are showing no signs of slowing, without changes to the roads traffic will only get worse.
Another presently unavoidable issue that comes with increased vehicular congestion is low air quality. This can’t be blamed entirely on cars, but with the number of cars on the road increasing exponentially air quality is bound to suffer. On sunny days in Beijing we saw visibility down to about a half mile, and riding in a car with the window open caused our eyes to burn. Picture what Los Angeles would look like today if no measures had ever been taken to create automotive emissions systems.
But locals expect that there won’t be a problem when the Olympics take place. After speaking with a Beijing resident, the belief is that the Chinese government will take whatever measures are necessary to make certain there are no traffic issues during the Olympics, and that air quality is brought to acceptable levels, even if that means banning cars from Beijing. Already drivers are being prevented from driving into Beijing on certain days, based on license plate numbers, to help ease traffic and smog.
The Olympics will put Beijing in the spotlight this summer, but the auto industry will likely keep that spotlight focused there for years to come.
