Beijing Auto Jan-Apr sales up 21% to 366,000 units

Shanghai, May 21 (Gasgoo.com) Chinese automaker Beijing Automotive Industry Corp said yesterday that in the first four months the company produced 370,000 vehicles, up 20.6% year on year (y/y) and sold 366,000 units, up 21.5% y/y, xinhuanet.com reported. Its sedan sales rose 52% y/y, keeping rapid growth for four straight months.

Beijing Auto saw double growth in sales and profits last month. In the Jan-April period, the company achieved sale revenue of 31.54 billion yuan ($4.62 bln), up 12% y/y, and total profits of 1.34 billion yuan, up 56.3% y/y.

Last month, the four subsidiaries of Beijing Auto all achieved rapid sales growth. Beijing Hyundai sold 50,217 cars, up 74% y/y, the third monthly high this year; Beiqi Foton's sales hit 57,270 vehicles, up 10.9%; Beijing Benz sold 2,532 cars, including 1,126 E-class sedans (up 45.1% y/y) and 1,406 C-class sedans (253.3% y/y); Beijing Automobile Works (BAW) posted sales of 5,500 vehicles, up 14.2% y/y.

Beijing Auto aims to sell 2 million vehicles annually by 2011, with sales revenue exceeding 240 billion yuan and profit of 7.2 billion yuan. In 2008, the company achieved sales revenue of 70.57 billion yuan.

The company has planned for several own-brand models to be launched in each of the coming years. It will manage to release two sedan models codenamed BC701 and BC801, two SUV models codenamed B40 and B51, and two hybrid new-energy models in 2010.