Guangzhou Auto expects growth in sales, output

Shanghai, November 12 (Gasgoo.com) Chinese automaker Guangzhou Automobile Group expects its sales to grow 12 to 13% this year and to maintain a double-digit growth rate in 2010, its chairman said today, Reuters reported.

Guangzhou Auto will expand its joint venture with Honda Motor next year to double the second plant's annual capacity to 240,000 units, Zhang Fangyou told Reuters. It will also start building a joint venture plant with Fiat later this month with completion scheduled for 2011.

These moves will boost the group's annual production capacity to more than 1 million units in 2011 from its current 800,000, Zhang said. The company is striving to become China's fifth-largest automaker after SAIC, FAW, Changan, and Dongfeng. The latest sales figures of Guangzhou Auto have not been revealed yet.

Guangzhou Auto currently operates car ventures with Toyota Motor and Honda Motor. It signed a framework agreement with Fiat in early July to establish a 50-50 joint venture for making and selling Fiat vehicles in China.

In May, Guangzhou Auto signed an agreement to take a 29% stake in Hunan Changfeng Motor, becoming the largest shareholder of the sport utility vehicle (SUV) manufacturer.