Dream machines.

The article looks at China's growing automobile industry. "China has begun to enter the age of mass car consumption. This is a great and historic advance." So proclaimed the state-run news agency, Xinhua, last year. Environmentalists may feel a twinge of fear at this burgeoning romance with motoring. But a rapid social and economic transformation is under way in urban China, and the car is steering it. In 2002 demand for cars in China soared by 56%, far more than even the rosiest projections. The next year growth quickened to 75%, before slowing in 2004 (when the government tightened rules on credit for car purchases) to around 15%. But in a sluggish global market, China's demand remains mesmerising. Few expect this year's growth to dip below 10%. As long as the economy goes on galloping at its current high-single-digit clip, many expect car sales to increase by 10-20% annually for several years to come. "China is going to become the second-largest market in the world sometime over the next two or three years," says David Thomas, head of China distribution for Ford. Between 2010 and 2015, he thinks, it could be the biggest. "China is developing in very similar ways (to the developed markets), but doing it so much quicker," Thomas adds. "So much quicker," he repeats.