China now the World's Largest Car Market

Above, an international model named Marta Wojcicka attracts more attention from Chinese spectators than the convertible SAAB car behind her. 

 
Last year Beijing hosted one of the largest Auto Shows in the world.   Tens of thousands of people were pushing and shoving to take photos of the gleaming cars and attractive women surrounding them.   As the U.S. economy is slowing, in Jan. 2009, China outpaced the U.S. to become the world's largest car market. Monthly car sales in China totaled 735,000 cars, nearly 12% more than in the U.S.  
The Beijing car show was chaotic.  One photographer from San Francisco stated he had to leave early because there were just too many people.  Since then many of the people at the 2008 Beijing Car Show have bought new cars.   Reuters news reports  in the first two and a half months of 2009, Beijing is adding an average of nearly 1,500 new cars each day to its roads.  Ironically  the Chinese Government is restricting 930,000 cars from driving each week day in Beijing, in an effort to curb the pollution and traffic caused by the Capitol's 3.6 million vehicles.  Car manufacturers should also practice some restraint of their own, and consider marketing more ecological vehicles that enrich the total experience of their customers lives.  Sadly the glamorous car dreams promoted at the Beijing Auto Show do not match the polluted and restrictive experience that motorists and residents live with in Beijing.