Brilliance ChinaJan-Sept sales flat

HONG KONG, Oct 22 Reuters is reporting that Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd, China's top minibus maker, sold 48,000 minivans in the first three quarters of 2002, little changed from the year-ago period, UBS Warburg said on Tuesday.

But that compared to an eight percent decline of unit sales in the first six months, suggesting a pick-up in growth momentum, the investment bank said in a research report.

UBS said it expected Brilliance China to sell 65,000 minibuses for the whole year, up two percent from the number of vehicles it sold in 2001.

Brilliance China had sold 2,371 Zhonghua-brand cars -- a new product it launched just on August 26 -- by October 13, UBS said, adding that it expected Brilliance China to sell 5,000 such cars by the end of the year and 25,000 in 2003.

UBS said it maintained a "buy" on shares in Brilliance China, which closed up 1.04 percent at HK$0.97 on Tuesday. It had lost 18 percent in the past three months by Monday's close.

Brilliance China's net profit dived 41 percent in the first half of this year as accelerating competition eroded demand and forced it to cut prices. Its 51 percent-owned joint venture in northeastern China cut the prices of its vans by up to 10 percent earlier this year.

Some analysts have been sceptical about the competitiveness of Zhonghua, citing increasing competition from strong foreign car makers that are setting up joint ventures in China.

In July, Brilliance China won approval to set up a joint venture in China with BMW AG (XETRA:BMWG.DE - News) to build a factory to produce 30,000 BMW 3 and 5 series cars a year, starting in the second half of 2003. BMW said the cars would all be sold in China.