As prices rise, Chinese drivers ease up on the gas

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High (or at least higher) gasoline prices appear to be downshifting China’s love affair with the automobile, according to a recent survey by market researcher J.D. Power Asia Pacific.

Almost 80% of respondents said they were driving less since the Chinese government in June decreed an 18% rise in gasoline prices, and 26% said they planned to put off buying a new car.

This could be bad news for U.S. automakers like General Motors, for which China has been a rare growth market lately.

Still, gas is cheaper in the Middle Kingdom — where a gallon costs the U.S. equivalent of $3.36 — than it is in California, where the going rate for a gallon of regular is $4.20.

— Martin Zimmerman