"The industry has entered into a regular, steady and sustainable growth period," Dong said.

He explained that China's high automobile output and sales growth in the first quarter of 2010 was the result of the very low base for the same period of 2009.

Despite a high growth in the second quarter, the growth rate stood between 14 percent and 17 percent in the third quarter, which was a very good growth pace, he said.

He added that this implies the return of China's automobile output and sales growth rate to a rational growth from a high-speed growth, and China's automobile industry has generally entered into a steady, sound and normal growth period.

As for the energy, environment and transportation pressure facing China's auto industry, Dong said that as China has more and more cars, it needs to cope with these challenges well. Large, congested cities like Beijing should pay more attention to the development of their public transportation systems, and China's main vehicle market will gradually shift to central and western regions as well as second and third-tier cities in the future.

According to CAAM's prediction, China's auto sales will reach 17 million units in 2010, up 25 percent from a year earlier and the demand for vehicles in China will reach 25 million units by 2015.

The association designated Shiyan, the home of Dongfeng Motor Group Company, as "China's Truck Capital" that day.

Shiyan, the only city designated "China's Truck Capital" by CAAM, is the largest commercial production base for trucks in China and one of the three largest in the world. The city is strengthening efforts to increase its auto sales to 1 million units, and the total output value of its auto industry to 100 billion yuan by 2015.