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China surpasses U.S. in 2009 auto sales

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What took 'em so long? After all, there are over 1,300,000,000 Chinese.

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Can't be anything but good for the world economy if manufacturers play their cards right.

However, not to rain on anyone's parade, if Chinese consumption of the raw materials needed to produce and drive cars comes anywhere close to what the rest of the industrialized world has, humanity is heading to hell in a handbasket at breakneck speed.

It would be nice to see China look at the mistakes Western nations made in their pursuit of endless production of cars (electronics, agriculture, et al.) with nary a thought to the materials they depleted in the process, and take a more forward look at it's chance to provide automobiles for 1.3 billion potential consumers while abandoning fossil fuel-based engines in favor of those that use environmentally safer renewable fuel sources, as well as revamping the entire structure of the automotive industry to place a greater emphasis on reducing the waste of cars that consumers throw away for whatever reason. Aggressive recycling schemes simply must be a priority of the Chinese auto industry if they expect to enjoy this industrial heyday for even a fraction of the time the rest of world already has (to the detriment of many).

It would also do well for other world automotive manufacturers to take advantage of this bottoming out of their markets to drastically rethink and retool how they do business and use natural resources as well.

Of course, I'm talking about lofty, pie-in-the-sky ideas like "Corporate Responsibility," so we've all got about as much chance of stockholder-owned companies placing the future of the human race ahead of profits as we do of seeing Paris Hilton turn her fortune over to the poor and join a convent, but there you have it.

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Scary

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Fortunately or otherwise, like it or not, ONLY China is in the race and biggest exporter of the world !

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Also read that China is now the largest exporter in the world, overtaking Germany. Not to forget that China will announce that it has overtaken Japan as the 2nd largest economy in the world, where does all this leave a nervous Japan?

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"U.S. sales of cars and light trucks plunged 21% in 2009"

We're doing our part to protect the environment. Can't say the same for the voracious Chinese.

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I commend the Chinese for much of what they are doing to become a world economic power.

The U.S. will have to gradually accept China more as an equal in all matters global over the next decade, especially with China have a tight grip on the pursestrings of the U.S. debt, and Japan will gradually fade to an undeniable second-rate economic power, if it's not already in there.

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Every nation has its own kind of rosey scenario,so China is getting more via Autos. Good for them and also for world.

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Sellin' hummers, no doubt. Vrooom. Vrooooom. Vroooooom!

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It's remarkable in that China's not even a developed country yet have achieved numerous "world number 1s" economically. Today China is the world's number one exporter surpassing German.

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"Japan will gradually fade to an undeniable second-rate economic power, if it's not already in there."

This statement is so incredibly off the mark. Being fourth in the world in terms of GDP in 2008, a leader in consumer electronics innovation, and on the cutting edge of robotics, Japan is hardly destined for immediate "second-rate" status in anything.

China's success shouldn't be viewed as an opportunity to thumb one's nose at Japan for what at best can be categorized as imagined personal slights of some sort. It just comes across as petty and immature, no matter how much one tries to dress it up as thoughtful and impartial commentary.

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China's future growth in motorcars (and virtually everything else) is contingent on an inexhaustible supply of raw materials. I figure it's only a matter of time -- 2 or 3 years -- before the world starts running out of everything, and all the cars they purchased are put to use as ornamental planters.

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