14 DAY TRIAL // One would think that, when faced with a major air pollution crisis, a country would try and cut back on the number of vehicles that hit its roads and highways. As it turns out, this is not true for China.
Recent media reports say that, despite the fact that the country is pretty much drowning in smog, sales of over 20 million new cars were reported in China in the year 2013 alone.
This figure represents a 14% increase when compared to the previous year, Green Car Reports says.
To make matters even worse, the country's Association of Automobile Manufacturers estimates that, in the year 2014, car sales in the country will continue to grow. Specifically, they are expected to increase by 14% over 2013 levels.
It may very well be that coal-fired power plants and various industrial facilities now up and running in the country cause quite a lot of pollution on a yearly basis, but this does not change the fact that the transportation sector is also to blame for the ongoing crisis.
Hence, having fewer cars travel up and down the country's roads might not be such a bad thing.