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Passenger car sales gain on discounts, new models

(Bloomberg)
Updated: 2007-06-07 17:24

China's passenger car sales rose 23 percent last month, the fastest pace in the past three months, as price cuts and new models attracted more people to showrooms.

Sales of passenger cars, including multipurpose vehicles and sport-utility vehicles, rose to 488,500 units in May, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said in an e-mailed statement today.

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Hyundai Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and other automakers are offering discounts while expanding production to help attract consumers in a market where 16 vehicles are sold every minute. China's total vehicle sales may rise more than 15 percent to 8.35 million units this year, according to the association.

Toyota, Japan's largest automaker, opened a factory in China's northern city of Tianjin last month to meet rising demand for Corolla sedans. The plant boosted Toyota's capacity in the city by 91 percent and may it help the carmaker increase sales in China by at least 30 percent this year.

In the first five months of the year, car sales rose 21 percent to 2.57 million vehicles, the association said.

The following table shows China's 10 bestselling cars in the first five months of the year, the sales total and the manufacturer. Sales of the 10 models accounted for 33 percent of total passenger car sales in the period.

=========================================================== No. Model Sales Automaker =========================================================== 1. Santana 89,698 Shanghai Volkswagen Co. 2. Jetta 80,912 FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Co. 3. Excelle 76,002 Shanghai General Motors Co. 4. Camry 66,309 Guangzhou Toyota Motor Co. 6. QQ 59,398 Chery Automobile Co. 5. Xiali 58,843 Tianjin FAW Xiali Automobile Co. 7. Family 54,560 FAW Haima Automobile Co. 8. Accord 52,670 Guangzhou Honda Automobile Co. 9. Elantra 51,320 Beijing Hyundai Motor Co. 10. Qiyun 46,304 Chery Automobile Co. ===========================================================