Having said that, it seems to me that the vast majority of “normal” urban Chinese either still doesn’t own a car, or doesn’t insist on using it to get to work if there is a convenient subway connection at a low price (and taking into account that roads in many major cities are jammed during rush hour).

Maybe it will eventually turn out like much of Europe: In Munich, for instance, most households have one or two cars. But few people actually use it to commute to work. That’s what subway and light rail are used for (though people from the suburbs do use their car to drive to the nearest light rail station).