2010-12-21 09:31

Auto sales in China may outstrip the US for a third consecutive year in 2011 as the world's largest carmakers Toyota Motor Corp, General Motors Co (GM) and Volkswagen AG estimate sales will grow by as much as 15 percent, Bloomberg News reported Monday.

GM, the biggest foreign automaker in China, expects sales to grow as much as 15 percent in line with the wider market, China president Kevin Wale said on Dec 19.

Volkswagen (VW), Europe's largest carmaker, projects China's markets will rise 10 to 15 percent, according to Soh Weiming, the company's local executive president, the report said.

"I would anticipate nothing less than that and we will grow together with the market," Soh said in an interview in Guangzhou. VW's growth would be limited by a shortage of capacity, the report cited Soh as saying.

Meanwhile, Toyota, the world's largest automaker, said on Sunday that its China sales is likely to rise 13 percent to 900,000 vehicles in 2011, the report said.

Sales growth in China may outstrip the US again in 2011 even as the Asian nation's government is set to end incentives this month that helped boost its auto sales by 34 percent to 16.4 million through November, according to the report.

Analysts from Booz & Co and Nomura Holdings Inc estimated that the auto sales in China is likely to reach 20 million in 2011.

GM and its joint ventures sold 2.2 million vehicles in China in the first 11 months of this year, an increase of 33 percent from a year earlier, the company said this month. VW- owned brands sold 1.8 million vehicles in China through November, an increase of 38 percent from a year earlier, the report said.