2005年NPR美国国家公共电台十一月-Auto Market Expands in China

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And while some Chinese are experimenting with Frappuccinos, others are interested in buying their first car. China has quickly become the world's third largest car market and it keeps getting bigger. Automakers like what they see and are looking to influence this first generation of car consumers. NPR's Lisa Chow reports.

In this Nissan TV commercial, a young couple dressed for work hops¹ into a bright yellow sedan. They drive out onto a highway and emerge dressed party, enjoying a lifestyle beyond all but a few Chinese.

Wujie is 37, ambitious, well-traveled and affluent², and she's ready to buy her first car. Her job as a communications manager at a US multinational³ firm earns her about 60,000 dollars a year. That's more than 40 times the average salary in China. On this day, Wujie takes a cab to the outskirts⁴ of Shanghai. She walks into a Volkswagen showroom. With its spacious⁵ floor and high ceilings, it would look familiar to any car owner in America. But you won't find SUVs or pickup⁶ trucks. The offerings here tend towards sedans in subdued⁷ colors, white, shades of grey and blue.

Wujie eyes a Volkswagen Golf, selling for just under 16,000 dollars. If she buys it, she'll pay with cash out of her savings⁸. She'll also have to pay 4,500 dollars to register it and nearly 200 dollars a month to park it. For Wujie, it's worth the expense.

Wu jie: It's basically for uh, convenience and also for lifestyle coz more and more people have car. When we're hanging around till midnight, you can't find a taxi. Sometimes the weather is awful. And especially during the holidays, it's really difficult to get a cab.

Wujie has done her homework. She wants a global positioning system and she wants a red car, but she is open to alternatives.

Wu jie: Actually I was thinking green might be good, too, like dark green.

While Wujie focuses on colors, she is not particularly interested in a test drive. Although, test drives in America often make or break a deal, they seem more like an afterthought in China, an exercise just to make sure the car works.

Wu jie: The more I look at it, em, the more I like it.

Wujie is just demography⁹ the companies are going after. That's according to Kevin Lane, a partner at the consulting firm McKenzie & Company.

Kevin Lane: They are an emerging, what I would call, consumer class. People who already have been able to afford to buy a broad range of consumer goods, have been making enough money to save and in some cases pool family resources to buy a car.

Lane estimates that by 2010, China will surpass Japan, becoming the world's second largest car market, a big step in a society that for generations has known only bicycles and buses. Lisa Chow, NPR News.

And tomorrow we (will) look at China's burgeoning¹⁰ software industry. This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne. And I'm Steve Inskeep.