China's Auto Sector Profits Surge In 2002

SHANGHAI, Jan 13, 2002; Reuters reported that China's auto industry raked in gross profits of 43.1 billion yuan ($5.21 billion) over 2002, up 60.94 percent from 2001, the State Development Planning Commission said on Monday.

Vehicle sales in the world's fastest-growing auto market climbed 30.8 percent to 646.5 billion yuan last year, the commission said in a statement published on its Website, www.sdpc.gov.cn.

The figures include output and profits at foreign joint venture plants in China.

China's car market, the focus of global giants like General Motors Corp and Volkswagen AG, has ballooned in recent years with rising incomes, the product of years of robust economic expansion.

"Auto demand was an important force driving economic growth in 2002," the commission said in the statement.

China's auto makers sold a combined 3.248 million vehicles in 2002, up 37.1 percent from 2001, the commission said. Vehicle output also came to 3.25 million units in 2002, up 38 percent.

Annual sedan sales broke the one-million mark for the first time last year, surging 56 percent to hit 1.126 million, it said. Car output reached 1.09 million, up 55 percent.

But the commission did not break down sales or production by individual automakers.

China's auto boom owes much of its growth to foreign investment. Since China allowed the first Sino-foreign car venture with Germany's Volkswagen to set up shop in Shanghai in 1985, dozens of automakers have flocked to the mainland.