Driving force

• Last Updated: November 24. 2009 8:31PM UAE / November 24. 2009 4:31PM GMT

It’s bad news for Copenhagen, but great news for Detroit: the Chinese have a seemingly insatiable lust for cars. Tax breaks have driven unprecedented sales and everyone is scrambling to get a piece of the action.

General Motors may be in trouble, but it remains China’s most popular car brand. Where else could it display a 9.8-metre Hummer without ridicule? But the party might be over soon. Chinese companies are gaining ground on the foreigners. This year Rolls-Royce had a taste of what is to come when Geely unveiled the GE, a dead-ringer for the Phantom priced at only £30,000 (Dh180,000). Owners of the £250,000 British saloon were dismayed to see Geely provide what they always wanted at a fraction of the price: a throne instead of a back seat. Hummer is next. Dongfeng’s version is already on the market, and a 10-metre model is expected soon.

So who said the car manufacturing business had gone west?