Shanghai January 18 (Gasgoo.com) In the aftermath of various government policies being phased out, insiders in the automobile industry are maintaining a fairly positive outlook by estimating growth of 10% to 15% in the new year. At the same time, most large domestic manufacturers are releasing their 2011 sales targets. The majority of own brands are optimistic, with average sales goals of 30%, well above industry growth estimations. Joint ventures, on the other hand, are more cautious, with an average sales target at 18%.
Shanghai GM, finishing last year as best-selling foreign venture with over one million in automobile sales, has set its goal for this year at 1.15 million vehicles, an increase of only 11% from last year. Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW Volkswagen have set targets of 1.2 million and 1 million vehicles respectively, representing an increase of 20% and 16.28%.
Beijing Hyundai, Dongfeng Nissan, Chang'an Mazda and Dongfeng Yueda Kia have set their sales growth targets to between 15% and 20%, slightly higher then industry growth predictions. FAW Toyota and Dongfeng Honda, on the other hand, are predicting growth of 10% and under by setting sales goals of 50,000 vehicles and 28,000 vehicles, respectively.
Although one half of own brands failed to meet their 2010 sales targets, they still hold a more optimistic outlook to this year. Chery, BYD and Geely are slightly more cautious in predicting growth of 17.28%, 15.38% and 16% respectively, while SAIC, Great Wall and Dongfeng Liuzhou are more upbeat, aiming for 44%, 38.43% and 60% growth respectively.
"The series of government policies put out last year were specifically aimed at small-engine vehicles, which undoubtedly mostly harmed own brands," said Bohai Securities researcher Shao Lin. "With those policies having gradually been phased out, joint ventures will continue to make use of product quality, market effectiveness and after-sale service to compete with own brands." He predicts that, in light of their high sales targets, own brands will be facing many more challenges this year.
