Analysis: Increasing Auto Sales in Asia

Recent news reports indicate that auto sales have been rising in Asian countries like India and China, despite increasing concerns about pollution, global warming, and eventual oil depletion. An article in the Times of India was headlined “Auto sales grow 13.5% in ‘06-07″, and reports from Forbes.com and MarketWatch indicated that DaimlerChrysler and Ford sales had increased substantially in northeast Asia.
Other articles focused on the purchase of luxury vehicles by wealthy Chinese and Indians.

In recent years, some promoters of globalization have defended poor conditions of workers in impoverished nations by claiming that they would eventually attain a richer, Western lifestyle as their countries achieved “economic development.” While many Indians and Chinese remain mired in extreme poverty, it is true that a segment of the population is now moving toward this type of consumption-intensive lifestyle. Extreme levels of pollution and energy consumption are already occuring in some Asian countries due to manufacturing and high population densities, while per-capita emissions are still much lower than that of most Western nations. If the population of these nations continues to grow and a substantial segment of the people acquire automobiles, pollution and energy consumption levels could prove to be catastrophic.

If severe environmental consequences are to be avoided and the eventual depletion of oil reserves to be prepared for, Western and Eastern nations alike should concentrate on improving public transportation and take measures to reduce the need for private automobiles. The proliferation of private vehicles in additional nations will only make it more difficult to resolve these issues.
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