According to Ward's research, which looked at government-reported registrations and historical vehicle-population trends, global registrations jumped from 980 million units in 2009 to 1.015 billion in 2010.
The 3.6 per cent rise in vehicle population was the largest percentage increase since 2000, while the 35.6 million year-to-year unit increase was the second-biggest increase in overall volume ever, it said.
The market explosion in China played a major role in overall vehicle population growth in 2010, with registrations jumping 27.5 per cent, said Ward.
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Top 20 vehicle producing countries
Image: A view of Gateway of India in Mumbai.India
Vehicle production in 2010: 3,536,783
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Top 20 vehicle producing countries
Image: A view of Shanghai's road network.Vehicle production in 2010: 18,264,667
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Image: Tokyo under the bright lights.Vehicle production in 2010: 9,625,940
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Top 20 vehicle producing countries
Image: A view of Los Angeles, the car capital of the US.Vehicle production in 2010: 7,761,443
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Image: A view of Berlin.Vehicle production in 2010: 5,905,985
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Top 20 vehicle producing countries
Image: Seoul's roads shine under the lights.Vehicle production in 2010: 4,271,941
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Image: A view of Rio de Janeiro.Vehicle production in 2010: 3,648,358
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Image: Beautiful Barcelona at night.Spain
Vehicle production in 2010: 2,387,900
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Image: A view of Mexico City's roundabout.Vehicle production in 2010: 2,345,124
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Image: Paris at night.Vehicle production in 2010: 2,227,742
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Image: A view of Toronto.Vehicle production in 2010: 2,071,026
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Top 20 vehicle producing countries
Image: Bangkok by the bay.Vehicle production in 2010: 1,644,513
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Image: Iran's capital Teheran.Iran
Vehicle production in 2010: 1,599,454
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Image: A view of Moscow.Vehicle production in 2010: 1,403,244
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Image: London Bridge lifts its gates.Vehicle production in 2010: 1,393,463
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Image: Istanbul comes to life at night.Turkey
Vehicle production in 2010: 1,097,554
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Image: A view of capital Prague.Vehicle production in 2010: 1,076,385
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Image: Poland's capital Warsaw.Poland
Vehicle production in 2010: 869,736
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Image: A view of Rome.Vehicle production in 2010: 857,359
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Top 20 vehicle producing countries
Image: A view of Buenos Aires.Argentina
Vehicle production in 2010: 716,540
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