FAW Group '08 auto sales up 6% to 1.5 mln units

Shanghai, January 14 (Gasgoo.com) China's auto giant FAW Group Corp has announced that it sold 1.53 million vehicles in 2008, up 6% from the previous year, the Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.

FAW Volkswagen, FAW's joint venture with Volkswagen Group, was the top-selling automaker in China last year, with sales increasing 8.6% from a year earlier to 499,000 units.

FAW Toyota, FAW's JV with Toyota Motor Corp, sold 366,000 cars, up 23.2% year on year. Sales of its new Corolla surged almost 200% from a year earlier, accounting for nearly 50% of the company's overall sales volume.

Sales of FAW Car, FAW Jiefang and Tianjin FAW Xiali reached 119,000 units, 134,000 units and 170,000 units respectively.