Great Wall Motor's Jan sales hit record high

Chinese private automaker Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd. aggregately sold 15,000 vehicles in January 2009, hitting a record high, and total sales volume of its pillar SUV model, Hover, exceeded 5,600 units.

Meanwhile, the Great Wall Florid, which hit the market in November 2008, won the great favorite of buyers last month, and 3,600 units were sold ultimately.

The company intends to unveil 13 new fashion and preferential products in 2009, along with the debut of China's automobile industry revitalization plan. The 1.5L Coolbear, Great Wall Motor's third sedan model, will hit the market in March, and seven months later, it is to launch another new sedan model with a code of CH031.

In May and August 2009, Great Wall Motor is scheduled to give birth to the 1.3L and 1.5L Cross sedan, respectively. The automaker will also vie for the 1.3L, 1.5L, and 2.0L small-sized SUV markets, and a batch of new SUV models are designed to hit the market in succession this year.

In addition, it plans to debut the 2.0L, 2.4L, and 2.5L Hover H3 in April and June 2009, in an attempt to further develop the environment-friendly and energy-saving diesel oil engines, said people with the direct knowledge of the matter.

As a matter of fact, Great Wall Motor is well known as a pickup manufacturer, and it has takend the lead in the country's pickup market for 11 consecutive years. Based on its existing 23 pickup models, the company intends to unveil three new ones adapt to rural customers before this yearend.

With a view to accelerating its expansion in the second- and third-tier markets, the carmaker plans to give a stronger support to local distributors, and the total number of its newly-added distribution outlets will reach 100 within this year.

Great Wall Motor, as China's first private complete car company listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, is headquartered in the northern Chinese city of Baoding, Hebei Province. Presently, the company owns four complete car manufacturing bases, and its annual production capacity has hit 400,000 vehicles.

In the first half of last year, Great Wall Motor reaped net profit of 408 million yuan, and its sales volume and revenue separately jumped 37.82% and 32.94% from a year ago, in spite of the serious economic situation worldwide. And the growth of its total sales volume for the entire 2008 topped 10%.