SAIC Motor's April auto sales up 34 pct; growth slows

SAIC Motor Corp, China's biggest automaker, sold 33.7 percent more vehicles in April than a year earlier, as policy incentives continue to bolster automobile demand in the world's largest auto market.

SAIC, which runs vehicle manufacturing ventures with General Motors and Volkswagen, sold 305,634 units in April, it said in a statement to the Shanghai stock exchange.

The figures underscore how SAIC continues to benefit from Beijing's stimulus measures, including tax incentives for small cars.

However, April's growth slowed from 58 percent in March, underscoring the likely deceleration in sales growth in the months ahead, as the explosive expansion in the last three quarters of 2009 makes for a higher base of comparison with last year.

In the first four months of the year, SAIC and all its ventures sold 1,197,453 units, up 54.8 percent from a year earlier.

Sales at its car venture with GM jumped 62.1 percent to 89,562 units in April. Sales of SAIC-GM-Wuling, which mostly makes Wuling brand mini vans and pickup trucks, grew 19.4 percent to 114,101 units, it said.

Shanghai Volkswagen, another major sales contributor, moved 72,922 cars in April, up 25.4 percent, it added, slower than the 48 percent annual growth for the first four months.

SAIC is one of the few Chinese automakers that has made some inroads into the lucrative medium-to-higher end segment now dominated by GM, Volkswagen, Toyota Motor and the likes.

Recognizing that it is unlikely to repeat last year's 57 percent sales growth, SAIC aims for its overall vehicle sales to exceed 3 million units this year, up from 2.73 million units in 2009, company executives have said.

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