Top 10 pickup makers sales up 8.4% in Jan-Nov

Shanghai, January 4 (Gasgoo.com) China's top ten pickup truck makers sold a total of 181,415 pickups from January through November 2008, representing a 8.4 percent year-on-year increase, according to data released by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

Great Wall Motor led the pickup sales with 51,380 units sold from January to November, capturing around one third of the market share. The remaining best-selling pickup brands securing the second to eighth sales rankings over the period were Nissan, Jiangling, Zhongxing, Huanghai (Yellow Sea), Gonow, Foton and Qingling.

The total sales of China's 10 major pickup brands reached 103,387 units in the first half of 2008, up 21.8% from one year earlier, but sales began to plunge since August for four consecutive months as the global economic crisis deepened. Pickup sales fell by 28.2 percent in November alone.

China's total vehicle sales totaled 8.63 mln units in the first 11 months of 2008, up 8.52 pct from a year earlier. Full-year growth fell into the single-digit range for the first time since July 2005, CAAM said.