Passenger car sales for November in the two fastest growing emerging markets, India and China, provided a further sign that momentum in the car industry is shifting to Asia.

China car sales nearly doubled during the month against a year earlier, while in India sales rose 61 per cent on the back of a rebounding economy and a recovery in the car finance market.

The robust growth in the two markets follows a landmark transaction in Asia this week when General Motors announced it was ceding majority control of its thriving Chinese passenger car venture toSAIC, its state-owned Chinese partner.

The deal was part of a move that will take the Shanghai-Detroit partnership into a $650m joint venture, under which the two groups will produce low-cost vehicles in India.

The shareholding change could mark a shift in the balance of power between carmakers in the US and China, now the worlds largest and fastest growing car market.

A total of 1.04m passenger cars were sold in November in China, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said this week, helped by heavy lending by state-owned banks and tax cuts targeted at smaller vehicles.

In the first 11 months of the year, 9.23m passenger cars were sold in China, up nearly 50 per cent from a year earlier and well ahead of the 6.76m vehicles sold in the whole of 2008, official data showed.

The unexpected strength of the Chinese market has bolstered the appetite of some Chinese carmakers to make acquisitions of distressed car assets overseas, although no such deal has yet been completed.

Chinas market has gone from strength to strength this year, catching car market analysts and industry executives off guard, and making east Asia a bright spot in an industry suffering from the effects of the financial crisis.

Market analysts are expecting continued growth in early 2010, especially if, as expected, Beijing continues with its programme of lowering the taxes on cars.

In India, vehicle sales growth was boosted by a low base effect from a year earlier but was still ahead of expectations, with suppliers unable to match the pace of the growth.

Car sales rose 61 per cent to 133,687 in November from 83,121 a year earlier, according to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

Between April and November, carmakers have sold 1.22m passenger vehicles, 20 per cent more than a year earlier.

Trucks and bus sales in the country doubled from a year earlier to 40,847 units in November.