Guo Liang has wanted to buy a car for a decade, and he will be the first in his family to own one. He is not deterred by Beijing's traffic jams.

Guo says if the traffic is too bad, he will use the car for leisure or holidays with his family.

Another customer, Zhang Menxin, works in Beijing, but is from Xi'an, more than 900 kilometers away.

Zhang says it is very difficult to get a train ticket to return home for Chinese New Year. She adds that she will want to take her infant son, and that the train is not convenient. If she had her own car, she says, she could go anytime she wanted to.

Status symbol

World Bank transportation specialist Shomik Mendhiratta says a car is something people in any society would aspire to own.

"Getting a car makes people feel like they have arrived (to the) middle class," Mendhiratta said. "It's got a huge status associated with it. It's a fantastic thing to have, if you have never had a car. A car gives you a mobility that's unbelievable."

And, as 26-year-old car shopper Alice Wu points out, for young women in her generation, a car also can help make a potential boyfriend a little more attractive. She says she does not care if a future beau has a car – but she says if he does, it will add points.