Move over sedans, pickup trucks are here

Auto majors tap adventurous spirit of Chinese middle class city slickers

China's aspiring urban cowboys are finally getting their moment.

Pickup trucks, long relegated to workhorses for the country's farmers, are being allowed in select urban areas for the first time. So far, the plan to energize one of the last untapped segments in the biggest auto market is catching on. Truck sales climbed 36 percent in June from a year earlier even as sedan deliveries declined.