China's passenger vehicle sales hit 13.76 mln units in 2010

Shanghai January 11 (Gasgoo.com) Sales of China's passenger vehicles including cars, multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs), sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and minivans rose 33.2% from a year earlier to 13.76 million units in 2010, bitauto.com reported today, citing data released by China Passenger Car Association.

In December, the country sold 1.30 million passenger vehicles, up 16.8% on the year but down 2.8% on the month, according to the data.

In the same month, car sales went up 11.7% year on year but dipped 2.1% month on month to 918,300 units; MPV sales surged 45.7% y/y and 13.7% m/m to 47,900 units; SUV sales jumped 36.5% from 2009 but fell 6.1% from November to 127,000 units.

In terms of total sales of the above three types of passenger vehicles in December 2010, Shanghai GM was ranked first among the top 10 manufacturers in China with 106,510 units sold, followed by Shanghai Volkswagen with 106510, FAW Volkswagen with 83,898, Beijing Hyundai with 83,898, Chery Auto with 67,899, Dongfeng Nissan with 54618, FAW Toyota with 44,568, Geely Auto with 41,714 and Changan Ford Mazda with 41,176.

"The rules to curb car purchases (in Beijing) pushed up sales in the last month of the previous year and although the oil price keeps rising, customers are still eager to buy cars," said Rao Da, secretary general of the Association, People's Daily reported.