Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC), General Motors’ main partner in China, on Friday said it had sold 462,645 vehicles in the first half, on track to surpass 2004’s total.
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Reuters said the country’s largest car maker – which industry sources have said planned an initial public offering that could raise up to $2 billion – did not offer a comparison with the first half of 2004, the year it moved 843,000 vehicles.
From January to June, its venture with GM in Shanghai reportedly sold 135,381 cars, while another venture with Volkswagen there sold 91,390 units.
The news agency noted that the numbers augur well for a company that folded its car-making assets into a new unit – SAIC Motor Corp. Ltd. – at the end of 2004, paving the way for that unit to list overseas or at home in a public offering that could raise as much as $SU2 billion in 2005 or beyond.
Of its first-half sales, exports totalled 62,133 units, topping all other domestic players, SAIC Motor, which controls listed Shanghai Automotive Co. Ltd., said in a statement cited by Reuters.
Reuters noted that the auto maker agreed in October to buy a controlling 48.9% stake in South Korea’s Ssangyong Motor for about $500 million. It also bought intellectual property for two models from MG Rover and had discussed a venture with that failed British car maker.
Shipments at SAIC-GM-Wuling, a commercial vehicle joint venture in south China’s Guangxi region, stood at 172,368 units, the report added.
Reuters noted that SAIC joins a host of other auto companies revealing strong first-half sales in China, including GM, Nissan , PSA Peugeot Citroen and South Korea’s Hyundai – but analysts reportedly say car sales are expected to grow just 10 to 15% this year, matching growth in 2004 but well off a near-doubling in 2003.
