Gasgoo.com (Shanghai May 1) - Dongfeng Motor, one of China's key automobile manufacturers, suffered a net deficit of 44.82 million yuan ($7.22m) over the first quarter of the year, auto.qq.com reported earlier this week. The figure is equivalent to negative year-on-year growth of 184.14 percent. The manufacturer's total business returns for the quarter totaled 4.47 billion yuan ($720.3m), representing negative year-on-year growth of 14.5 percent.
Dongfeng's sales over the first quarter totaled 60,897 units, 21.8 percent than the amount the manufacturer sold in the first quarter of 2012. In particular, quarterly sales of Dongfeng own brand midsize and light trucks fell 34.32 percent from last year to this year. In addition to falling sales of its own brand models, Dongfeng attributes its poor financial performance to increasing research and development costs for its subsidiary Zhengzhou Nissan joint venture and falling sales of its subsidiary engine manufacturer Dongfeng Cummins.
According to the manufacturer's official statement, Dongfeng's total net profits for the first half of the year are expected to fall approximately 50 percent.
