China's auto market revved up in May

With a middle class that could to balloon to 1.4 billion people by 2030, China has become a lifeline for automakers looking to keep their profits afloat in a weak global economy. Through October 2011, more than 15 million new vehicles have been purchased in China, according to ChinaAutoWeb*. That’s about 3 percent higher than a year ago.

Vehicle sales in China rose 16 percent year-on-year in May to 1.61 million units, according to industry data on Saturday, indicating a strengthening recovery in the world's biggest auto market.In April total vehicle sales rose 5.2 percent to 1.62 million units, although from a higher base.Sales of passenger vehicles accelerated by 22.6 percent year-on-year in May to 1.28 million vehicles, from 12.5 percent in April, according to figures from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers quoted by Dow Jones Newswires.

Auto sales in China, the world's top car market, rose more than 32 percent in 2010 to 18.06 million units, Dow Jones Newswires quoted the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers as saying.December sales rose 17.9 percent from a year earlier to 1.67 million units, the association said in a statement.China overtook the United States in 2009 to become the world's largest car market. GM, Ford and Volkswagen all posted record sales in the country last year.

ByJeffrey Friedland:News stories reporting U.S. auto sales for August indicated that a total of 1.19 million cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles were sold in the United States, a 13% increase from August of 2011, and the highest sales rate in four years.

Auto sales in China, the world's largest car market, rose by 5.36 percent in March from a year earlier, data from an industry group showed Sunday.A total of 1.83 million vehicles were sold in the country last month, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said in a statement.That brought total sales in the first three months of the year to 4.98 million units, up 4.98 percent from a year earlier, the group said.

Article written by Prieur du Plessis, editor of the Investment Postcards from Cape Town blog.The article below is a guest contribution by Frank Holmes, CEO and chief investment officer of U.S. Global Investors, and John Derrick, director of research of U.S. Global Investors.

China's auto sales reached 1.2 million units in February, up sharply compared with the same month a year ago but below the monthly record set in January, an industry association said.Demand for new vehicles in the world's biggest market pushed sales up 46 percent in February from the same period a year earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers announced.But the figure marked a 27 percent decline from January, it said, when a record 1.66 million cars were sold.

PARIS (Reuters) - China's auto sales surged past the United States to reach record levels in 2009, industry figures showed on Monday, underscoring China's importance to the global auto industry as the world's biggest market.