Four million headaches

The Beijing municipal government must pride itself on rocketing car ownership, a symbol of both the city's prosperity and profits for carmakers.

However, if local officials still have no concerns about worsening traffic conditions as the city's car population continues to soar, the double whammy of disastrous air pollution and unbearable congestion is just around the corner.

The city's car population reached 3.99 million last Sunday. Given the eagerness of local car buyers and dealers to cut last-minute deals before the vehicle purchase tax for low-emission cars is raised from 5 percent this year to 7.5 percent from Jan 1 next year, it is very likely that Beijing's car ownership will cross the threshold of 4 million by this weekend.