Dongfeng Motor predicts 15% rise in vehicle sales

China’s second biggest automaker, Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd., predicts that its vehicle sales will rise by15% this year, as sales growth in China’s vehicle market is forecast to rise to 20 million vehicles in 2012, up from last year’s 18.51 million vehicles. “We believe that after the market volatilities in the past two years, China’s auto sales should return to a solid and rational growth,” said Xu Ping, the company’s chairman. He added that overall sales in China, which is the world’s largest auto market, will increase by 8-10% each year for the next 10 years because of the country’s steady economic growth. Industry observers said that solid demand in smaller cities will cause the market to stabilize in the coming months, because the smaller cities are replacing the coastal urban areas as the country’s main growth catalyst. Xu said he expects Dongfeng’s sales to reach 2.45 million-2.5 million vehicles this year, a 15% increase over 2011. “This year our growth will be relatively fast,” he said, adding that Dongfeng plans to launch nine new passenger car models this year. The company posted a 4.6% drop in net profit for 2011 to CNY10.48 billion (US$1.66 billion), and sold 2.17 million vehicles in 2011, up by 11.7%. China’s car sales rose only by 5.2% in 2011. (March 28, 2012)