foreign car costs much higher in China than in the US. BMW is sold for at least an equivalent of $80,000 or so. my brother bought a lousy VW Jetta, cost him an equivalent of $30,000 in Beijing. And that cost does not include the car title, which alone could cost as much as a couple of thousand US$ (one way for Chinese gov. controls the private car ownership is to limit the availability of the car title). So sometimes, especially in Shanghai where the population density is extremely high, people can afford a car but have no way to obtain a title, even if they have the money.
as for your question, for one thing, Chinese gov. has not really encouraged the ownership of private cars, and it is understandable, due to the high population density, the limited energy resource, and crowded road... And personally I think it is very wise. In big Chinese cities, the gov. should only sponsor the public transportation. period.
And BTW, in case you do not know, 7 out of 10 most polluted large cities in the world are in China now (1999 stats). And only a couple of cities now start to require using unlead gas by law. It would be definitely a disaster to develop private cars without planning.
And if you think this pollution problem is not the US concern, think again. Last spring, the dust storm from China has travelled all the way to the US west coast, and even as deep as Colorado, Utah. |
