China's SAIC Announces H1 Sales Up

SHANGHAI, July 12, 2007; Reuters reported that - China's biggest car maker SAIC Motor Corp. said on Thursday it sold roughly 840,000 vehicles in the first half, up 23 percent from a year earlier.

Car sales at SAIC's car ventures with General Motors and Volkswagen, the country's biggest car sellers, came to 226,000 and 213,000 units each, it said in a statement, without providing comparative figures.

Commercial vehicle sales topped 300,000 units during the period, up 29 percent from a year earlier, with sales at SAIC-GM-Wuling, a tie-up between SAIC, GM and Liuzhou Wuling Automobile, up 23.3 percent at more than 282,000 units.

SAIC completed a $2.4 billion restructuring in late 2006, transferring its key auto assests into Shanghai Automotive Co. Ltd.

It rolled out its first own-brand car, the Roewe, in the country in March, with sales totalling 7,632 units as of the end of June, it added.