Mercedes-Benz China Ltd announced recently that sales of Mercedes-Benz brand cars in China's mainland soared 52 percent in the first 11 months of this year to 35,200 vehicles, reaching its yearly sales target one month in advance, a China daily report said.

GM Asia Pacific president Nick Reilly said yesterday that he foresees GM sales in China will plateau or increase slightly, and the U.S. automaker will see its sales in China exceed 1 million units despite the global financial crisis.

German automaker Daimler AG is recalling about 3,108 Viano and Vito vehicles in China due to problems with the air bag, brake system and spare wheels, the official Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday.

Toyota Motor Corp may not able to meet its reduced target of automobile sales in the Chinese market this year, the official Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday.

Chinese market demands of heavy-duty trucks will slow down next year overall, but with the government’s macro-economic control policy put into place, the heavy trucks industry will benefit and is expected to recover in the second quarter of 2009, xinhuanet.com said, citing industry insiders including Ma Chunji, president of Sinotruk.

The China Industrial Fastener Association plans to give evidence to defend themselves against the fastener dumping allegations from the European Union and may launch a similar anti-dumping appeal to EU if necessary, said Feng Jinyao, president of the Association, China Business Daily reported.

The financial crisis and auto market slump have alarmingly increased the number of loss-making auto dealers in China this year. By the end of the year, only 20% of the dealerships have gained profits, while the other majority 80% have become loss-making businesses and even gone bankrupt, said xinhuanet.com today.

The year of 2008 is an eventful year for China and its auto industry. The following ten events have served as the highlights of the Chinese auto market this year, among others such as the Beijing Olympics traffic control in August, the sales tax hike on big-engine cars, and sales target cuts near the year end.

The global financial crisis has dealt a heavy blow to China's bus sales. In October, there were 21,900 buses sold in the Chinese market, down 17.49% month on month, down 13.18% year on year, said Auto Industry News today. Many bus makers are expected to seek their sales growth in the public transportation, rural bus service and bus exports.

China's top economic planning body and finance ministry has jointly urged competent authorities to sort out the fees related to vehicles and transportation and to scrap the six categories of highway tolls and waterways maintenance and administration fees as of Jan. 1, said xinhuanet.com today.

The past 30 years have witnessed the astonishing transformation of China into an economic superpower. China is now a major presence in every important matter on the world stage.

November auto prices in the Chinese market were stable by and large with small fluctuations, according to a survey conducted in 36 cities of China by the Price Monitoring Center of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).