Both China's production and sales of cars is expected to be over 7 million this year, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on Thursday.

The association made the forecast based on the country's automobile production and sales position in the first 10 months of this year which hit 5.89 million and 5.77 million cars. This is up 27.56 and 25.69 percent respectively from January-October of 2005.

In October alone 588,800 cars were manufactured. This is up 41.43 percent from October last year while sales totaled 576,300…an increase of 27.55 percent, said the association.

Last month 422,000 passenger vehicles were manufactured and 410,000 were sold. This is up 41.2 percent and 28.15 percent respectively from the same month of 2005,

The output and sales of commercial vehicles stood at 166,600 and 166,300 in October. This is a year on year increase of 42 percent and 26 percent respectively.

The country's top 10 vehicle sellers in the 10-month period this year are: Shanghai Automobile Industry Corporation, FAW Volkswagen, Dongfeng, Beijing Hyundai, Chang'an, Guangzhou Honda, Chery, Harbin Hafei, Shenyang-based Brilliance and Geely.

The accumulated vehicle sales of the 10 auto makers came to 4.844 million from January to October. This accounted for 84 percent of the country's total.

The association's latest data shows that the country's 'own brand' sedans enjoyed robust business in January-October this year with sales totaling 3.04 million autos. This is up 39.96 percent from the same period of last year.

(China.org.cn, Xinhua News Agency November 10, 2006)