Just a few decades ago, the typical American or European driver would never have believed that China, a communist country, would one day be the world’s largest car producer (by volume). But, in 2009, that’s exactly what happened when China produced 13.79 million automobiles, including 8 million passenger cars and nearly 3.5 million commercial vehicles.
Last year, the country’s automakers built more than 24 million cars, trucks and buses. By 2020, that number is expected to reach more than 30 million vehicles annually. Not surprisingly, leading global automotive manufacturers operate high-volume plants—one to two cars per minute—throughout the country.