The Third China Hainan International Automobile Fair is scheduled to open in Haikou, capital city of southern Hainan island province, on March 1st next year.

According to the organizing committee of the fair, international auto giants including Volkswagen, BMW and Hyundai, as well as over 20 major Chinese auto conglomerates are expected to participate in the 5-day fair.

Leading limousine brands such as "Lincoln", "Cadillac" and some new style cars will also be on show at the fair, which has more than 13,000 square meters of exhibition floor space, said the organizing committee.

The annual auto fair is jointly sponsored by the China Automotive Industry Association, the Hainan provincial Commerce Department and the Haikou municipal government.

China will speed up the building of its auto market in line with the country's 11th five-year program.

A senior official from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in Shanghai recently that China will double its vehicle number by 2010, with the total figure reaching 55 million.

According to the official, China's domestic auto market will see an annual demand of eight to nine million vehicles in 2010. Every thousand people will possess 40 cars.

The statistics from the Ministry show that both output and sales of China's auto industry topped five million last year.

China has about 27 million cars today, 60 percent of which are privately owned.

(China Daily November 5, 2005)