China's passenger car sales rose 48 per cent in June on the same month last year, according to data released yesterday. The rise consolidates a remarkable recovery that has catapulted China to the top position in the world vehicle market so far this year.

昨日公布的数据显示，中国6月份乘用车销售较去年同期增长了48%。这种增长巩固了中国汽车市场的强劲复苏，而在复苏过程中，中国已成为今年迄今为止全球最大的汽车市场。

The strength of China's vehicle sales – total vehicles sales rose 18 per cent for the first half year to 6.1m from the same period last year – has surprised car market analysts, government officials and even the country's carmakers, many of whom are scrambling to produce enough vehicles to meet demand.

今年上半年，中国汽车总销售量同比增长18%，达到610万辆，这一业绩令汽车市场分析人士、政府官员、甚至是中国汽车制造商都惊讶不已，许多制造商都在抓紧生产足够多的车辆，以满足市场需求。

Some car dealerships have reported shortages of vehicles and western carmakers such as Volkswagen and General Motors have had to increase production sharply at their Chinese joint ventures to meet local demand.

一些汽车经销商已表示存在缺货现象，大众汽车(Volkswagen)和通用汽车(General Motors)等西方汽车制造商，不得不大幅增加在华合资企业的产量，以满足当地需求。

Like other sectors of the Chinese economy, car industry growth this year was jump-started by the government‘s January announcement of tax breaks on small cars and subsidies for vehicle purchases in rural areas.

与中国经济中的其它行业一样，汽车行业今年的增长也是由政府1月份的刺激措施启动的。当时中国政府宣布，对小型车给予减税，并对农村地区购买车辆提供补贴。

But car segments not targeted by tax breaks or subsidies also saw strong growth in sales, car industry analysts said.

但汽车行业分析师表示，并非减税或补贴目标的汽车销量也出现了强劲增长。

High levels of bank lending are also believed to have helped spur demand. China on Wednesday announced that new lending in the first half was Rmb7,400bn ($1,084bn), up 201 per cent year-on-year and equal to 150 per cent of full-year lending in 2008.

据信，较高的银行贷款水平也起到了刺激市场需求的作用。中国周三公布的数据显示，今年上半年新增贷款7.4万亿元人民币（合1.084万亿美元），同比增长201%，相当于2008年全年贷款总额的150%。

Lending for car purchases had not risen – most Chinese buyers use cash for vehicle purchases – but higher levels of liquidity in general fed through to more corporate purchases of vehicles.

购车贷款总量并未增加，因为多数中国买家使用现金买车，但总体上更为充沛的流动性，促成了更多企业购车。

General consumer confidence was also a strong factor in sales growth, said Mike Dunne of JD Power, the motor consultancy, in Shanghai: “The government is putting out a strong message that the financial crisis is concentrated in the US but we in China are doing just fine. The world might be hurting but not us.”

总体的消费者信心也是汽车销售增长的一个重要因素，汽车咨询公司JD Power驻上海的迈克·邓恩(Mike Dunne)表示，“政府正发出这样一个强烈信号：金融危机主要发生在美国，而我们中国一切还好。世界可能会受到伤害，但我们不会。”

JD Power recently revised its 2009 forecast for Chinese passenger car sales to 7m, from 5.8m at the beginning of the year and said a further upward revision was possible.

JD Power最近调整了2009年中国乘用车销量的预测，从今年年初预测的580万辆，调高至700万辆，并表示可能进一步向上修正。

译者/力文