Beijing auto show opens amid market slowdown

BEIJING - Global and Chinese automakers are looking to the Beijing auto show to help boost sales in a slowing, intensely competitive market.

China is the world's biggest auto market, with 17.9 million vehicles sold last year. But sales growth is forecast to slow from last year's 15.7 percent to 8 to 10 percent this year. And competition is intense, with global automakers jostling with 25 local brands for sales.

Ambitious domestic brands such as Chery Ltd. are losing ground to foreign rivals. Sales by Chinese independent brands shrank 2.6 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter.