Tasty meals on wheels (2)

European and US brands have also managed to boost sales in China. The leading European manufacturer Volkswagen Group has not made public its total sales for last year, but the company reported that deliveries in the first 11 months topped the 8 million mark for the first time over this period.

China and North America are the major markets for Volkswagen. During the first 11 months of 2012, deliveries of VW models in North America soared by 31 percent. The company says it aims to reach the 10 million mark by 2018.

One of Volkswagen's two joint-venture partners in China, SAIC, has reported annual deliveries of 1.28 million, 10 percent higher than the previous year. The other partner FAW has yet to issue figures, but analysts estimate sales will be around 1.35 million.

The number of exported models is increasing, but only forms a fraction of Volkswagen's total sales, at about 80,000 units last year.

A boycott by Chinese consumers of Japanese brands, as a result of the territorial dispute over the Diaoyu Islands, has helped Volkswagen and GM expand in China.

Auto analysis estimated that Japanese brands have lost at least 30 percent of sales volume. Toyota, for instance, projected overall sales in 2012 at 1 million, 10 percent of its global sales, but it sold 840,000 units, down 5 percent from the previous year.

GM China has remained on its high perch in terms of sales over the past three years. It reported on Jan 9 that it had delivered 2.85 million vehicles last year, up 14.7 percent year-on-year. Its Chinese joint venture SAIC-GM was sales champion in China with 1,392,658 deliveries (Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac).

The resilience of the Chinese market has more or less offset the European downturn for GM. From January to November, the company's deliveries in Europe were down by 12.5 percent.