Vehicle sales last month rose by 77.69 percent year-on-year to 323,200 units, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said at the weekend.

The figure was up from 284,700 units last December.

Sales of domestically made passenger cars in January reached a monthly record high of 141,200 units, an increase of 184 per cent from a year earlier, the association said.

Association spokeswoman Zhu Yiping said: "The steep sales increase, especially that of passenger cars, is mainly a result of the continuous growth momentum of last year."

Total vehicle sales grew by 36.65 percent last year compared with 2001. Sales of passenger cars were up 56.08 percent.

"The sales last month were also boosted significantly by a consumer car-buying spree before Spring Festival (on February 1)," Zhu said.

The association predicted earlier that total sales of Chinese-made vehicles would reach 3.7 million to 3.9 million units this year.

Sales of passenger cars will increase to 1.5 million units this year, it forecast.

Qie Xiaogang, an official at the Beijing Asian Games Village Auto Exchange, said: "We are very optimistic about the market prospects this year."

In January, sales of trucks rose by 22.15 percent year-on-year to 75,200 units, the association said.

Bus sales last month reached 106,700 units, an increase of 51.19 percent over the same period last year.

The top five Chinese motor manufacturers in terms of sales in January were the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, the First Automotive Works Corp, the Dongfeng Motor Corp, Chang'an Motor and the Beijing Automotive Industry Corp.

Sales of the Shanghai firm increased by 156 percent year-on-year in January, the association said. The Beijing company's sales increased by 104 percent compared with January 2001.

The total vehicle output last month amounted to 327,100 units, an increase of 61.31 percent over a year earlier, the association said.

(China Daily February 24, 2003)