BYD aims to double car sales in 2009

China's BYD Co. aims to double sales of automobiles next year, its chairman said Monday, defying a deepening slowdown of the country's once-burgeoning auto market.

Wang Chuanfu, chairman of the battery and automobile producer, said that with sales of passenger cars falling 10% in November for the third time in four months, "it's very difficult to read the market right now."

Still, the Shenzhen company plans to sell 350,000 vehicles in 2009, up from a total of 180,000 cars it plans to sell this year, Mr. Wang told a small group of reporters at the company's headquarters in this southern Chinese city. In 2007, BYD sold about 90,000 vehicles.

Mr. Wang said the general slowdown in China's economic growth in recent months, triggered by the global credit crunch, is hurting BYD's information technology and battery divisions. But he said its auto business still grew 70% to 80% in the last two months.

Much of that growth has come from strong sales of the company's small cars, particularly the F0 subcompact and the F3 compact sedan.

The BYD chairman said the company plans to launch four new vehicles during the next year, including a minivan and the all-electric e6 car.