September 7, 2010 2:26 AM IST

China vehicles to top 200 million in 2020 -report

The number of vehicles in China will exceed 200 million in 2020, the China Securities Journal reported on Monday, quoting a government official.

A view shows a parking lot of Chinese carmaker Brilliance Automotive in Shenyang, Liaoning province, November 9, 2009. China, which overtook the United States as the world's No. 1 auto market in January, sold 923,154 cars last month, 79.6 percent more than a year earlier, state media reported.

The large increase in vehicle numbers will pose problems for the environment and energy security, Wang Fuchang, vice minister for China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told an auto conference on Sunday.

China has been a major bright spot for a global auto industry still struggling to recover from last year's steep downturn.

The market has shown signs of slowing down beginning in the second quarter, but bounced back strongly in August helped largely by Beijing's subsidies for fuel-efficient cars.