Visitors crowd around cars on display at the 2012 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition at the China International Exhibition Center in Beijing, Monday. The auto show began Monday and runs through May 2. / Korea Times photo by Kim Tae-jong

BEIJING — The 2012 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition kicked off Monday at the China International Exhibition Center with domestic and global automakers filling the venue with new models. The biennial event will run through May 2.

This year’s event is the largest ever, showing the increasing importance of China as the biggest car market in the world.

According to organizers, about 2,000 automakers and auto parts manufacturers, the most in the show’s history, are participating.

Some 1,100 vehicles are on display with about 120 new vehicles introduced for the first time in the world including 36 from international firms.

In comparison, the previous edition displayed a total of 990 vehicles and attracted 785,600 visitors worldwide with 12,500 journalists from 1,564 media organizations including 1,100 foreign journalists from 48 countries. But this year is expected to set new records in all aspects.

Europ-based BMW, Mercedes Benz, PSA Peugeot Citroen, U.S.-based Ford, Japan’s Nissan, and Hyundai Motor of Korea are introducing new as well as flagship models in an effort to seek a bigger share of the market.

Domestic automakers are also ambitiously exhibiting a range of different models from compact cars and SUVs to luxury sedans.

But as in previous versions, the auto show also offers visitors the chance to play the game of which famous cars have been copied by which Chinese companies, although experts say that China’s auto manufacturers have started to enter into a period of maturity.