Authoritative sources have predicted that China's auto output would top 5 million this year.

Of the total output, sedan cars would exceed 2.6 million, said Shen Ningwu, an official with the China Automotive Industrial Association, when attending the 2004 China Automotive and Parts Industrial Development Forum being held in this coastal city in east China's Shandong Province.

China produced over 4.44 million automobiles last year, a rise of 35.2 percent year on year. Of the total figure, 2.01 million were sedan cars, up 83.25 percent from the previous year.

China registered sales totaling 4.3908 million automobiles last year, a 34.21 percent more than the previous year. Sales of sedan cars totaled 1.9716 million, a year-on-year increase of 75.28 percent.

According to the State Information Center, China's car sales totaled 1.275 million in the first quarter this year, up 300,000 over the same period of last year. The auto sales for the whole year was expected to top 5.5 million.

Private cars will account for 70 percent, according to Xu Changming, an official with the center.

China's car sales were predicted to surpass that of Japan in 2005, ranking the second in the world, Xu said.

Currently, China has set up 600 Sino-foreign joint ventures for producing autos and parts.

(Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2004)