Shanghai car show defies slowdown

International car manufacturers have gathered for the opening of the Shanghai Auto Show, with the Chinese market one of the few reasons for optimism in an otherwise gloomy automotive sector.Global car sales are forecast to fall 8.2 per cent this year, but China's sales figures for March were up 10 per cent."[China] is the only healthy large car market in the world right now," Graeme Maxton, a Europe-based car analyst, said on Monday."And that means it's going to get far more attention. Everything else is collapsing. The only place you can grow is China."Vehicle sales hit a monthly high of 1.1 million in March, more than US sales for the third straight month, despite double-digit declines in most other markets."I have only three words: excited, excited, excited!'' Zhang Xiaoyu, the chairman of the Association of China Auto Engineering, said."After only 18 years of development, we may become the world's leading auto market."