At a press announcement held by China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC), Wang Bin, deputy director of the market operations department of the MOC, stated that sales of new automotive vehicles in China in 2018 exceeded 28 million, though this sales figure was down 2.8 percent year on year. Meanwhile, car ownership per 100 households in urban areas in China rose from 21.5 units in 2013 to 40 units in 2018. Mr. Wang stated that, compared to developed countries, demand for automotive vehicles in China is still expected to be higher. He added that, for instance, car ownership per every one thousand people in China totaled 170 units in 2018, compared to 800 in the US and 500 in Europe and Japan.