Chinese own over 53 million private cars

BEIJING - The number of registered private cars reached 53.08 million units by the end of 2012, up 22.8 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.

Registered motor vehicles exceeded 120 million units, up 14.3 percent year on year, according to NBS's statistics.

Of the total, 93.09 million units are privately owned, up 18.3 percent from a year earlier, NBS said.

The country's freightage totaled 41.2 billion tonnes in 2012, up 11.5 percent year on year, while its freight volume hit 17.3 trillion tonnes, marking an increase of 8.7 percent from a year earlier.

Passenger traffic totaled 37.9 billion trips, up 7.6 percent year on year, according to NBS.