Gasgoo.com (Shanghai February 20) - J.D. Power and Associates expects that Chinese automobile sales will grow in 11 percent in 2012, Beijing News reported today. J.D. Power made the announcement in Beijing last week. If the figure proves to be accurate, China should account for 40 percent of automobile sales worldwide this year.

According to statistics from the marketing firm, China accounted for 24 percent of global automobile sales last year. From 2011 to 2015, the country has constituted 70 percent of all sales growth in Asia.

In other news, Zeng Zhiling, director of JD Power-LMC Asia Pacific Forecasting, predicts that turbocharged engine-powered vehicles will account for 25 percent of all Chinese passenger vehicles by 2018. Domestic own brand manufacturers have also begun embracing the new technology. Start-stop technology is expected to become more widespread in the future.