Delays cut sales ambition

Great Wall Motor Co Ltd, China’s largest maker of sport-utility vehicles and pick-up trucks, cut its 2007 sales target by about eight percent because of delays in the introduction of new passenger cars. 
    
The auto maker expects to sell 110,000 vehicles this year and 200,000 next year, Deputy General Manager Bai Xuefei told reporters yesterday in Hong Kong. The car maker aimed to sell 120,000 vehicles this year, Chairman Wei Jianjun said in March. 
    
The company has pushed back plans to add passenger cars by about two months from August because more work is needed to improve the vehicles, Bai said. The auto maker plans to add models, including the GWPeri and the Cowry multipurpose vehicle, to widen its product range and to benefit from rising passenger car sales in China, the world’s second-largest auto market, Bloomberg News said. 
    
Great Wall, based in Baoding, Hebei Province, also plans to sell shares in China eventually, Bai said, without providing a timeframe. 
    
The auto maker’s first-half profit rose 11 percent to 406 million yuan (US$54 million) on increased sales of Hover sport-utility vehicles domestically and overseas. Total vehicle sales climbed 24 percent to 47,665. 
    
Gross profit margin dropped to 23.9 percent from 26 percent due to a higher consumption tax in China. 
    
"We could raise our profit margin by developing new products and new auto parts," said Bai. An adjustment to the tax rates would also help, he added. 
    
Great Wall aims to boost its overseas sa les about a third to as many as 40,000 vehicles this year, Bai said. The company sells vehicles in about 120 countries.