According to figures released by the Chinese National Department of Statistics, China, the "country of bicycles", has overtaken Japan to become the second largest automobile market, trailing only behind the United States.
In 2006, the number of private vehicles on Chinese roads surpassed 22 million, or an 18.8 percent increase over 2005, according to the Statistics Department.
In 2006, the sale of vehicles rose by 25 percent, reaching 7.22 million units, of which 60 percent were bought by private owners. Of all 3.8 million leisure vehicles sold in 2006, 80 percent ended up being owned by private citizens.
Currently, over 60 percent of all vehicles traveling on Chinese roads are privately owned, while in 2005 the share was 58.8 percent of a total of 31.6 million vehicles.
In 2001, only 43 percent of vehicles were privately owned; yet ever since China entered the WTO in that same year, the number of private vehicles has been rising.
The Chinese automobile market accounts for three vehicles per 100 people, still far from the world average of 12 vehicles per 100 people.
Despite the low average number of cars per person, the absolute number is becoming too high for existing infra-structures to cope with. Chinese cities now have to deal with chronic traffic jams. For example, Beijing, with an average of 11 hours of traffic jams a day, currently has 2.7 million vehicles. That number is expected to reach three million by 2008.