SHANGHAI — China has widened its lead over the U.S. as the world’s top auto market, with September sales vaulting 78 percent, spurred by tax cuts and government stimulus spending.
Sales totaled 1.33 million vehicles last month, with passenger cars climbing 84 percent, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported. It was the seventh month that China’s auto sales surpassed 1.1 million vehicles.
Sales in smaller cities have been booming as automakers rush to woo first-time car buyers. Those trends have global automakers looking to the world’s most populous nation to drive revenues as demand in other big markets remains sluggish.
China, with 1.3 billion people, has long been expected to overtake the United States as the largest vehicle market. The U.S. economic slump hastened that shift by depressing American sales while China surged ahead.
The nation now leads the world in sales, with 9.66 million vehicles selling over the first nine months of the year, up 34 percent from the same period last year. The U.S. ranks second, with January-September sales at about 7.8 million cars and light trucks.
