China passenger car sales rise 23% in Jan-Nov period

Sales of passenger cars made in China soared 22.83 percent annually to 5.66 million units in the first 11 months of 2007, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on Friday.

During the period, sales of sedans reached 4.24 million units, up 24.32 percent from a year earlier, according to the association.

Meanwhile, sales of multi-purpose vehicles hit 203,700 units, up 21.11 percent and sales of sport utility vehicles was 319,300 units, up 55.77 percent.

In November, sales of passenger cars hit 583,200 units, including 437,400 sedans. The passenger vehicles sales is 17.36 percent higher from October and 16.72 percent higher from the same period last year.

Top ten sedan sellers include FAW Volkswagen, Shanghai Volkswagen and Shanghai General Motors. Between Jan.-Nov. period, they sold a total 2.76 million sedans, accounting for 65 percent of the total sales.

Top six selling sedan brands are Jetta (FAW-Volkswagen), Santana (Shanghai Volkswagen), Buick Excelle (Shanghai General Motors), Camry (Guangzhou Honda), QQ (Anhui Chery), and Xiali (FAW Tianjin).