Beijing has one car for every ten residents, according to a local statistics bureau at weekend.

By the end of 2004, the metropolis had 1.87 million vehicles, 1.3 million of which were privately owned. The city's population is approximately 11.5 million.

The auto industry has become a backbone of the national capital, with total annual output of 539,000, up 55.2 percent over the previous year. The output of sedans reached 1.87 million, up 150 percent.

The annual per capita income for the urban residents was 15,637.8 yuan (about 1,890 US dollars, up 11.5 percent over 2003. The city's consumer price index (CPI), an index for inflation, was 1.1 percent, nearly three points lower than the national average.

(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2005)