China's auto market, relatively stagnant since last July, showed signs of recovery in March, the Beijing-based Xinjing Newspaper reports Wednesday.

China's six major automobile producers reported each auto sales of more than 20,000 in March, 138,480 cars in total, up 85 percent over February, the paper says.

The First Automotive works (FAW) ranked first with 25,326 units sold in March, Shanghai General Motors ranked second with 25,260 units and Shanghai Volkswagen was third with 23,478 units.

Chinese consumers are beginning to buy vehicles after adopting await-and-see attitude for several months. Insiders say the competition for the auto market is fierce this year.

China's auto sales increase suddenly dropped to zero last July from a 40-percent monthly increase in the first five months of 2004, as a price war broke out among the country's auto manufacturers.

In 2001, 750,000 cars were sold in China. The number jumped to 1.2 million in 2002; it topped 2 million in 2003.

Experts forecast that by 2005, about 42 million Chinese families will be able to afford cars. In 2025, China is expected to take the place of the United States as the world's largest car consumer.

(Xinhua News Agency April 7, 2005)