THE EVOLUTION of the Chinese automobile industry has been truly astonishing, just like a giant awakening from a deep sleep. This is especially so bearing in mind that prior to 1979, China could only manage to produce in the region of 160,000 motor vehicles annually and the majority of these were buses or trucks. In just over 20 years, though, a total of 123 companies with 200 automobile assembly plants have been set up. The production capacity is