#1394157 FUVEST - 2005 - Vestibular (USP)/"2006"

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“CHINA has begun to enter the age of mass car consumption. This is a great and historic advance.” So proclaimed the state-run news agency, Xinhua, last year. Environmentalists may feel a twinge of fear at this burgeoning romance with motoring. But a rapid social and economic transformation is under way in urban China, and the car is steering it.

In 2002 demand for cars in China soared by 56%, far more than even the rosiest projections. The next year growth quickened to 75%, before slowing in 2004 (when the government tightened rules on credit for car purchases) to around 15%. But in a sluggish global market, China’s demand remains mesmerising. Few expect this year’s growth to dip below 10%. As long as the economy goes on galloping at its current high-singledigit clip, many expect car sales to increase by 10-20% annually for several years to come.

The Economist June 4th 2005

The passage suggests that China’s embrace of the car is likely to make environmentalists