BMW expects its sales in China in 2010 to grow by 30% to 120,000 units. Mercedes-Benz aims to sell more than 100,000 passenger vehicles in China in 2010, the vice president of sales and marketing for Mercedes-Benz Cars said in April. Audi, the top-selling luxury brand in China, is on course to sell more than 200,000 units there in 2010.

J.D. Power and Associates forecasts that China’s light-vehicle market will hit 15.8 million this year, up 20% over 2009. That’s nearly one-quarter of global sales. In contrast, the U.S. market will only grow 12% to 11.7 million, forecasts J.D. Power.

With all the news about Chinese workers striking against Honda suppliers, you probably know that Honda-brand cars are on the road in China. What you might not know is that non-Chinese Asian brands accounted for 25% of the light-vehicle market in China in 2009.

Several trends in China have converged to boost the market for turbochargers. The first is well-known—the market is growing like gangbusters. Light vehicle sales in the first five months of 2010 rose by 53% compared to the same period in 2009, according to J.D. Power and Associates.

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Light-vehicle sales in China rose 53% in the first five months of the year to nearly 7.2 million units, according to J.D. Power and Associates. It’s hard to ignore that kind of momentum. Some SEMA members aren’t. They are headed to Beijing in late September for the SEMA-CIAPE Business Development Conference. Many see it as a good opportunity to learn more about the China market.

SEMA members who produce accessories for Jeep-brand vehicles take notice: China is awash in Jeeps, and Jeep owners are some of China’s most enthusiastic off-roaders. They are looking for imported brands when it comes to modifying their off-road machines.

Wade Kawasaki, president of Exports International, longtime SEMA member and former member of the SEMA Board of Directors, will explore the correlation between selling in the Chinese market and intellectual property violations. Kawasaki will join IPR guru Merritt R. Blakeslee of the Blakeslee Law Firm on July 8, to help SEMA members learn about best practices in protecting their intellectual property assets.

Drivers in China are going farther and faster and that is creating opportunities for U.S. brake manufacturers.

“Roads in China are getting better each year, so cars go faster and more demands are placed on brake products,” said a Shandong, China-based performance parts importer, retailer and wholesaler located in the northeast part of the country. “Foreign brands have good word of mouth and good feedback, thus I think they have a good future.”

Convincing your colleagues that the rewards of selling to overseas market are worth the risks can be tough. But it paid off for SEMA member SCT LLC. SCT aims to add a new international market to its list when it attends the SEMA CIAPE China Business Development Conference in Beijing in late September.