Skoda China sales likely to grow 5% in '09

Shanghai, January 20 (Gasgoo.com) A senior company official said that sales of Skoda brand cars in China would likely to grow 50 percent in 2009 backed by the launch of its third car model in the market, local newspaper reported Tuesday.

"Skoda is expecting sales volume of 90,000 units for 2009 compared with nearly 60,000 units sold last year," said Fu Qiang, deputy director of Skoda Marketing & Sales Business of Shanghai Volkswagen Co, according to the Beijing Morning Post.

He said the launch of Skoda Superb in China this year may help to boost the brand's market share to 3 percent in 2009 from just 1 percent in 2008.

"We also plan to increase the number of authorized dealers to 200 by the end of this year," he revealed. Skoda currently has 80 dealers across China.

In an effort to support this target, Skoda's Head Reinhard Jung told the media earlier this month that the company wants to double its Chinese capacity in 2009 from the current 50,000 units to 60,000 units.

Skoda is selling the Octavia and Fabia in the Chinese market. In 2008, Skoda registered a sales growth of 117 percent against 2007 in China where it sold 59,284 cars.