Scots to buy 290,000 new cars 25 | 10 | 2013

WHILE SCOTLAND REMAINS on course to beat last year's number of new car sales — 181,785 — new figures suggest new car sales in China will soar to 20 million by 2020. And they'll double in the following 10 years to 40m.

Not surprisingly, the surge to 20m will make China the biggest car market in the world, nudging it ahead of America.

And the new figures by Ronald Hoge, CEO of Pinnacle Engines, predicts that by 2030, while China will account for 40.3m new cars, the US will have a market of just 17.6m sales, followed by India (11.7m), Brazil (7.8m) and Russia (5.2m).

Related: Five-year high for Scots new car sales

And even the Russian market overshadows the rest of Western Europe, which will be led by Germany (3.7m) and France (3.2m), all ahead of the UK with 2.9m.

And while no official estimates exists for the Scottish market, on the basis that generally it accounts for around 10% of the UK total, by 2030 there should be around 280,000-290,000 new cars registered in Scotland each year.

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Jim McGill