Domestic automakers optimistic about 2010 sales

China's major automakers raised their sales targets for the year of 2010 after seeing big sales jump in 2009.

Chery Automobile released its sales target for 2010 last week. The automaker aims to sell 700,000 to 900,000 units this year, up 157 percent from a year earlier; BYD will work harder to sell 800,000 vehicles by 2011; Geely raised its sales target by 33 percent to 400,000 vehicles in 2010; And Brilliance set the sales target for this year to 450,000 models, up 36.4 percent year-on-year.

Compared with China's domestic automakers' average 30 percent increase for their new year sales target, joint venture car makers in China seem to be less ambitious. The Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), FAW, Dongfeng and Changan (Chana) all kept their growth rate below 20 percent for the year of 2010. Nevertheless all of them hope the sales can break 2 million units. SAIC even set the figure to over 3 million units.

Though most domestic automakers made a fortune last year due to government incentives, it's hard to say whether those automakers which set such high sales targets for 2010 could reach their goals, said Zheng Xueqin, an analyst with Sinotrust International Information & Consulting Co. in Beijing.

To complete their sales targets, some domestic automakers have expanded their production capacities. Geely plans to expand the production capacity of its plant in Lanzhou to 120,000 vehicles from 50,000 vehicles. And it's reported that the company will build a new plant in Beijing after the Volvo deal is completed.