Preliminary figures show auto sales in China reached about 1.03 million in March, exceeding sales in America for the third month in a row, state media reports said recently.
Data from 14 major auto makers, accounting for roughly 90 percent of total sales, totaled 1.026 million, according to media reports on the Internet.

Full industry data due to be released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers in coming days could push March auto sales in China, the world’s second largest auto market, to a monthly record, the reports said. Americans bought 857,735 new vehicles in March, down 37 percent from the 1.36 million sold in the same month a year earlier, according to Autodata Corp. But a 25 percent jump in U.S. sales from February raised hopes that the worst may be over for an industry battered by global economic malaise and financial catastrophe.

China is bound to eventually overtake America as the world’s largest auto market, and recent developments have accelerated that trend, with Chinese vehicle sales in January and February exceeding U.S. monthly sales for the first time ever.

With sales slumping elsewhere, China is one of the few bright spots for the ailing industry.
But China’s promise is also a curse for automakers facing ever intensifying competition among both domestic and foreign manufacturers.