China to make a record 12mln vehicles in '09

China is expected to manufacture a record 12 million vehicles in 2009, an official with the country's top economic planning agency said Saturday.

Chinese domestic auto makers were expected to produce and sell more than eight million vehicles in the first eight months this year, said Chen Bin, director of the department of industry under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

The government's stimulus plan for the auto industry formulated this year had achieved success in terms of boosting domestic demand and ensuring industry's growth, he said at the on-going 2009 International Forum on Chinese Automotive Industry Development held in Tianjin.

Sales of China's domestically-made automobiles totalled 1.09 million units in July, up 63.57 percent from a year earlier, the fifth month in a row that saw auto sales exceed one million units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Chen said the government's measure to halve the purchase tax on small-capacity cars had boosted the development of the country's small-engine vehicle sector.

China cut the purchase tax on passenger cars to five percent for models with engine displacements of less than 1.6 litres in January.