UPDATE 1-Volkswagen Jan-Sept China vehicle sales up 28.7 pct http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-10-10T122212Z_01_L10529104_RTRIDST_0_AUTOS-CHINA-VOLKSWAGEN-UPDATE-1.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna
Tue Oct 10, 2006
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SHANGHAI, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Top European auto maker Volkswagen AG (VOWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday its China sales rose 28.7 percent in the first nine months from a year earlier.
Including imports, the maker of Volkswagen and Audi brand cars sold 524,558 vehicles in China during the period, compared to 407,548 units a year earlier, the company said in a statement.
Sales of the Volkswagen brand group, including Skoda, came to 464,589 units during the period, up from 371,425 units a year earlier, while sales of the Audi brands amounted to 59,883 units, versus 36,086 units, it said.
Sales of some luxurious brands were not specified.
"The market share is expected to be at 17.5 percent, slightly above the previous year," the statement said.
Volkswagen sold 570,876 vehicles in China last year with a market share of 17.3 percent.
In September, Winfried Vahland, president and CEO of Volkswagen (China) Investment Co Ltd, told Reuters in an interview that the company was confident of selling more than 600,000 cars in 2006 in China, the world's second largest auto market.
In a sign of confidence, Volkswagen would introduce 12-14 new models by the decade's end, up from an earlier target of 10-12, Vahland said. Rival Ford Motor Co. (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research), a relative late comer in China, a market still dominated by Volkswagen and General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), saw its China sales surging 105.5 percent to 114,685 units in the first three quarters.
General Motors has yet to release the sales figures for the nine-month period.
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