Vehicle output in China remained on an upward trend in September from August helped by stronger sales, according to an industry organization.

The nation's vehicle output amounted to 437,100 units last month, up 15.93 percent from August, statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show.

Growth was up from 5.97 percent in August from July.

Growth over the past two months came after consecutive month-to-month declines from April to July.

"The growth mainly resulted from a rebounding market demand for vehicles," said Zhu Yiping, spokeswoman for the auto association.

Sales of automobiles made in China rose by 14.37 percent to 439,100 units in September from the previous month, according to statistics.

The rise in August was up from 10.5 percent from July.

The output of trucks achieved the biggest growth in September followed by buses and cars, the association said.

Truck output last month surged by 26.04 percent to 152,800 units from August with sales increasing by 13.39 percent to 141,900 units.

Bus output and sales stood at 101,500 units and 103,100 units in September, up 21 percent and 16.58 percent from the previous month respectively.

Car output grew by only 6.32 percent to 182,800 units last month from August with sales rising by 13.94 percent to 194,100 units because of heavy inventories of manufacturers and dealers.

Accumulated vehicle output and sales stood at 3.86 million and 3.73 million units in the first three quarters of this year, up 19.28 percent and 18.36 percent from a year ago, statistics show.

Car output and sales grew by 22.02 percent and 20.68 percent year-on-year to 1.80 million and 1.70 million units during the period.

"Both total vehicle output and sales this year will exceed 5 million units this year as stable growth will continue during the rest of this year," Zhu told China Daily.

Both car output and sales will reach 2.2 to 2.3 million units this year, she said.

The auto association predicted at the beginning of this year that the full-year vehicle output in China would stand at 5.1 to 5.34 million units, including 2.5 to 2.62 million cars.

Last year, total vehicle output jumped by 34 percent to 4.4 million units, including 2 million cars.

The domestic automobile market will become warmer during the fourth quarter of this year as tight government controls on car loans are expected to loosen and many Chinese families can afford to buy cars, said Xu Changming, a researcher at the State Information Centre.

"The vast majority of producers in China, who are falling short of their sales targets this year, will take all kinds of measures to boost sales," Xu said.

Further vehicle price wars will be "inevitable" during the fourth quarter, he said.

On October 1, Volkswagen's car joint venture with First Automotive Works Corp (FAW) slashed prices of Audi A6 and A4 sedans by 20,000 to 65,000 yuan (US$2,400 to US$7,850), or as much as 15 percent.

FAW, based in northeast China's Jilin Province, remains the biggest Chinese automaker, selling 705,500 vehicles during the first three quarters, up 9.17 percent from a year earlier.

(China Daily October 18, 2004)