Shanghai VW leads China's Jan car sales

Shanghai, February 11 (Gasgoo.com) Shanghai Volkswagen, a joint venture between the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC) and German Volkswagen, replaced FAW VW as the market leader in January with sales hitting 40,000 units, the Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday, citing data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

The top ten Chinese carmakers in terms of sales in January were Shanghai Volkswagen, FAW Volkswagen, Shanghai GM, Beijing Hyundai, Dongfeng Nissan, Chery, Guangzhou Honda, Geely, FAW Toyota and BYD, with sales of 40,000 units, 38,800 units, 32,700 units, 32,600 units, 26,300 units, 25,300 units, 21,600 units, 20,400 units, 19,200 units and 18,600 units, respectively.

The above ten carmakers sold 275,500 cars in total in the month, accounting for 63 percent of China's total car sales.

Beijing Hyundai rose by four notches in the Top 10 rankings to No. 4 from No. 8 of last month, while FAW VW rose two spots to No. 2 from No. 4 last month. BYD replaced Guangzhou Toyota again to enter the Top 10 list.

On a year-on-year basis Guangzhou Honda and BYD replaced Changan Ford and FAW Toyota to become of the ten best-selling automakers in January.

China's passenger car sales came to 610,600 units in January, down 7.76 percent from a year earlier, but up 4.44 percent from December 2008, official data showed on Tuesday.