Quoted from Chinamotorworld.com:

"China---Both the number of motor vehicles and their drivers and riders kept increasing in the first half of 2012. By the end of June 2012, the total motor vehicle population in China was 233 million. The number of cars was 114 million, and that of motorcycle was 103 million. The number of motor vehicle drivers and riders was 247 million, and the number of car drivers was 186 million.

The number of motor vehicles in China keeps soaring. The first half of 2012 saw an increase of 8 million motor vehicles. The number of motor vehicles in Shandong province and Guangdong province both exceeded 20 million units. By the end of June 2012, the number of motor vehicles in China was 233 million, up 3.67% or an increase of 8.26 million units from the end of 2011. The number of motor vehicles in eight Chinese provinces exceeded 10 million units respectively, with Shandong and Guangdong having more than 20 million units each.

The number of cars in China exceeded 110 million. Car increase hit historic highs in the first half of 2012. The number of cars in five cities including Beijing and Chengdu surpassed 2 million units respectively. By the end of June 2012, the number of cars in China was 114 million, up 7.66% or an increase of 8.11 million units from the end of 2011. Car population accounted for 48.87% of the total motor vehicle population, up 1.81 percentage points from the end of 2011. There are altogether 17 cities the car population of which exceeded 1 million units. The number of cars in Beijing, Chengdu, Tianjin, Shenzhen and Shanghai exceeded 2 million units respectively. The number of private cars reached 86.13 million, taking up 75.62% of the total car population, up 1.21 percentage points from the end of 2011.

The number of motor vehicle drivers and riders keep rising fast. The number of new riders and drivers with on-road experience less than a year accounts for 10.93% of the total. By the end of June 2012, the number of motor vehicle drivers and riders reached 247 million, an increase of 11.43 million as compared with the end of 2011. In details, the number of car drivers was 186 million, accounting for 75.19% of the total. The number of motor vehicle drivers and riders whose actual on-road experience was less than 3 years was 94.71 million, taking up 38.33% of the total number in China. 10.93% or 27.01 million of the total motor vehicle drivers and riders were those with less than a year of on-road experience. The number of motor vehicle drivers and riders in Guangdong, Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Hebei and Zhejiang all exceeded 10 million respectively."

=========

I wonder how the numbers were calculated (e.g., sales? registrations?).

The subsidy for rural motorcycle purchases ends on Jan 31, 2013, so there will probably be a bump in sales this month, followed by a declining growth rate (i.e., the number will probably still be growing, but at a lesser rate).

There is definitely a massive & growing market for entrepreneurs (albeit probably at the lower end, e.g,. < 250cc).