SAIC H1 sales top 1.2 mln, lead China carmakers

Shanghai, July 15 (Gasgoo.com) China's largest automaker Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) achieved sales of more than 1.2 million vehicles during the first half of 2009, ranking first among Chinese automakers, xinhuanet.com reported, citing the latest statistics released by the company on Monday.

In the January-June period, SAIC sold 1,225,568 vehicles, up 29.3% from a year earlier. The sales included 675,127 passenger vehicles, up 22.4% year on year, leading China's automakers in the period. Sales of commercial vehicles came to 550,441 units, up 39.8% y/y, ranking 5th in CV sales of Chinese automakers.

The statistics of SAIC show that Shanghai VW, a passenger car joint venture between SAIC and Volkswagen, sold 314,011 units in the first half, up 15.4% y/y, leading China's passenger vehicle sales in the period. 

Shanghai GM sold 288,843 vehicles in the first half of this year, rising 16.1% y/y and setting the company's half-year sales record. The first-half sales include 60,356 units sold in June, an all-time high of monthly sales. The passenger car venture between GM and SAIC saw the January-June sales of its best-selling Buick brand jumped 34% y/y to 195,989 units.

Sales at SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co., which primarily makes mini commercial vehicles, rose 49.9% from a year earlier to 524,598 units. The three-party joint venture sold 295,789 Wuling Sunshine minivans.

SAIC expects to sell more than 2 million vehicles in 2009 "if there are no major changes in the [recovering] economy," the company's chairman Hu Maoyuan said last month. The auto giant had previously set a conservative sales target of 1.8 million units this year, slightly lower than 1.83 million in 2008.