Dongfeng Group 2007 net profit rises 81 pct

Shanghai, April 17 (Gasgoo.com) Dongfeng Motor Group yesterday announced net profits were up 81.2 percent to 3.77 billion yuan ($539 million) in 2007 on the back of rising demand for passenger cars.

Net income rose to 56.31 billion yuan, or 22.9 pct, from 48.26 billion yuan, the automaker said.

As a group, Dongfeng Motor's sale rose 29.2 pct in 2007 to 639,337 units, mainly on Nissan and Honda JVs - sales up 33.6% and 100.4% respectively.

"We plan to budget 11 billion yuan in 2008 and 12 billion yuan in 2009 to boost its output and R&D capacities, mainly for passenger cars," Hu Xindong, managing director of the company told National Business Daily.

"All of the funds will be earned by ourselves and we have no financing plans through IPO," he added.

The company aims to boost its overall output to 1.6 million units by 2010 from 1.1 million of last year, to meet the strong demand for vehicles in China despite rising cost of raw materials, according to Hu.