Largest automobile sales - country

For the first time since automobile mass-production began in the early 1900s, China overtook North America as the world’s biggest car market in 2009, recording 13.6 million sales compared to North America’s tally of 10.4 million sales. The Chinese new car market increased its global lead in 2010 with more than 18 million annual sales compared to North America’s tally of 11.5 million for the same year. At its peak, North America sold 17.344 million cars in calendar year 2000 and in excess of 16 million annually to the end of 2007.