Gasgoo.com (Shanghai March 22) - Guangzhou Automobile Group plans to sell 40,000 passenger automobiles this year, Shanghai Securities News reported today, quoting a statement made by General Manager Zeng Qinghong. Several in the industry believe GAC's passenger car division will begin making profits by next year.
"Although GAC Group came to the own brand market late, we have been growing relatively strongly," a source from the manufacturer was quoted as saying. The source compared GAC's performance to Chery, BYD, Hafei and FAW, all of which experienced negative growth last year. GAC's Trumpchi brand, meanwhile, managed sales of 17,000 units, earning its place as one of the most successful own brands in 2011. Mr. Zeng is very confident in the brand's prospects for the future, stating that the new Trumpchi GS5 SUV (pictured) will help further increase the brand's market coverage.
Wu Song, General Motor of GAC Motor, added that the new brand's goal is to try gain as much market share as possible. According to Mr. Wu, the GS5's sales may start off slowly, but will soon reach around 5,000 units a month. However, Mr. Zeng was keen to emphasize that the own brand market is fiercely competitive. To this end, GAC plans to invest a further seven billion yuan ($1.11b) for future research and development.
