China becomes 2nd largest market for new cars in 2006

www.chinaview.cn BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) --
China overtook Japan to become the world's second largest market for new vehicles in 2006 next only to the United States, registering sales of 7.22 million units, up 25.13 percent year-on-year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers on Thursday. The country's automakers last year produced 7.28 million vehicles, up 27.32 percent over the previous year… The top 10 automakers produced about 83.9 percent of all auto sales, including Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC), First Automobile Works (FAW) and Dong Feng Motor Corp. (DFMC), which respectively sold 1.22 million, 1.17 million and 932,300 vehicles as the top three sellers. Domestic automaker, Chery Automobile Co. Ltd. ranked seventh with sales of 302,500 vehicles. Geely Group, another privately-owned company that develops and produces its own models, sold 204,400 vehicles in 2006, making it the 10th largest automaker in China.
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