As causes of the slowdown of China's automobile market growth are being explored, attention is cast towards more minor issues -- such as parking shortages.

Liao Zhenyun, a citizen of Beijing and new car owner, has faced parking problems, dimming the enthusiasm he had when he first purchased his car.

"I usually don't drive out my car in the evening. Because if I return late, it would be very hard for me to find a parking space," he said.

He didn't drive out often in the daytime either, because parking is also difficult in many places, including department stores, restaurants and government offices.

"I'd rather take taxi as much as possible. At least I don't have to spend much extra time looking for parking spaces," he said.

As the number of cars grows rapidly in China, shortage of parking has become a serious problem in many large Chinese cities.

"There are around 1.09 million certified parking lots in Beijing at present, but the number of cars in the downtown area alone amounts to around 1.5 million," said Liu Xiaoming, deputy director of the Beijing communications commission.

As a result, many cars are parked illegally, mostly on both sides of the less important streets or lanes.

In addition to the parking difficulty, car owners also face inconvenience in car repair and increasing traffic congestion.

"If my car breaks, I'll be very worried if the repair shop will ask for exorbitant fees or use shoddy parts on my car," said Miao Jie, an company employee in Beijing.

These issues have prevented many people from carrying out their car purchase plans. The reason is simple: owning a car is for personal convenience. Why should I buy a car if it causes so much inconvenience to me?

"China has not been ready for the coming of an automobile society yet," said Miao. "Supporting facilities, including parking space, traffic control systems and car maintenance and repair systems are still gravely inadequate."

That may be contributed to the too fast growth of automobiles on the road. The growth of supporting facilities have failed to keep pace.

In the two years after China joined the WTO at the end of 2001, China's automobile market experienced three years of sustained boom that stunned the world but also tapped to the full existing supporting facilities.

In making any forecast about the development of China's automobile market, "minor issues" should be seriously considered along with such general issues as China's vast population, rapidly growing economy and rise of people's standard of living.

As automobile prices drop, a lot more Chinese people can afford cars nowadays, but they at least must find a space for them. Until that basic requirement is met easily, growth of China's automobile market will have to maintain a moderate speed.