Chery's January sales reach record high of over 86000

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai February 15) - Chery Automobile released its January sales figures today, auto.hexun.com reported. The Chinese manufacturer, the country's largest automobile exporter, said its global monthly sales reached a record high of 86,299 units, an increase of 17.52 percent over last January. Of that number 10,505 were overseas sales, more than doubling its January 2010 volume. With such impressive results, Chery looks in good form to fulfill its target of 800,000 total sales this year.

Among its best-selling vehicles for January, Chery's flagship Cowin series (pictured) came out on top with 26,975 sales. The manufacturer's Storm 2 (Fulwin 2), Tiggo 3 and A3 also had respectable sales of 10,854, 9,402 and 7,471 units, respectively.

Of particular attention was Chery's hot-selling QQ subcompact. While it still ranked as the manufacturer's second-best selling vehicle with 16,864 units sold, it only constituted 19.5 percent of total sales, demonstrating that Chery's strategic shift towards focusing on sedans is beginning to show some results.

In an interview with the press, spokesman Jin Yibo said that although the manufacturer's January sales were very good, Chery would still be cautiously optimistic in pursuing its yearly sales goals, adding that market growth should remain stable. Chery being able to break its monthly sales record in January owes itself to two key factors: first, the period directly preceding Chinese New Year is traditionally a strong season for the domestic automobile market with above-average sales all around, and second, the phasing out of preferential government taxation policies towards small displacement cars at the end of last year. The phasing out of the policies increased demand among buyers, with manufacturers across the country being able to clear out full warehouses in December and January.

Mr. Jin continued to say that sales figures were not the sole focus of Chery's 'Maturing 2011' development strategy. The company is also looking to shift its product range from 'large and complete' to 'fewer yet refined' by only introducing five new models in 2011, far fewer than in past years. Chery will be looking to focus on improving product quality, price and performance.