Thirty years ago, as the nascent Chinese auto industry was gaining steam, a lot of analysts could see that explosive growth was in the future. And sure enough, it became like the Wild West in the 2000s, where anything goes and intellectual-property violations were common as automakers and suppliers from around the globe arrived as joint venture partners to help Chinese automakers learn the business – and grow sales at a breakneck pace.
Today, all signs from China suggest the market remains an automotive hotbed, where annual car sales ballooned from 26 million in 2021 to more than 34 million last year – way ahead of the 16.3 million vehicles sold in the No.2 US market. Finally this year, a correction in the China market has pushed first-half sales down 20%, despite declining domestic vehicle sales this year amid intense price wars and cooling demand.
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