SAIC may sell 2.65 mln vehicles this year, up 30%

Roewe 350

SAIC Motor Corp, China's largest automaker, expects its sales this year to rise 30 percent from last year to 2.65 million vehicles, Xinhua News reported yesterday, citing a company official.

SAIC sold a total of 2.188 million vehicles in the first ten months, an increase of 51 percent from a year earlier. "Sales for the whole year will likely hit 2.65 million units, surpassing Suzuki and Fiat to become the world's eighth largest car company," said SAIC Motor president Chen Hong.

Chen made the remarks on the sidelines of the 2009 Guangzhou Auto Show that opened on Monday in southern Guangzhou city, Guangdong province. SAIC sold about 1.83 million units last year.

Due to the impact of the global financial crisis, multinational car companies had not fared well this year, while SAIC benefited from the booming car market in China. China has been a bright spot this year amid the global auto industry's recession.

Since January, the Chinese government has released a slew of stimulus measures to boost its auto market, including aggressive sales tax cuts for small cars and subsidies for green car purchases. These incentives have driven auto sales to record highs.

In the first ten months this year, auto sales in China broke the 10 million mark and reached 10.89 million units, up 36 percent from a year ago, surpassing the United States as the world's largest auto market.

In addition to vehicles made by its joint ventures with General Motors and Volkswagen AG, SAIC expects to sell about 90,000 of its own-brand vehicles this year, double its original target, Chen added.