China’s Automakers Set Higher Sales Targets in 2011

　　For any business, it always devises the annual plan for sales target at the end of a year or at the beginning of next year. The target should always be higher than the sales in the previous year. Certainly there is no exception for auto manufacturers. If an auto manufacturer grows by 100% in the year of 2009, it will set the expected growth rate of 100% in 2010. No matter whether the automaker has the capability to reach the goal, it still has enough courage. Since China's auto market embraced a booming period in 2010, they should have set a higher target. However, according to the data published a number of automakers, they have taken conservative measures. Though the plan is higher than the sales in 2010, the growth rate is not that great. On the one hand, the capacity is limited. On the other hand, government policies also exert some effects. Therefore automakers took a more conservative approach. Since enterprises have set a higher target, they should have some methods and measures to realize the goal. A large number of automobile manufacturers rely on the new models which will be introduced in the year of 2011. They hope that they can achieve or even exceed the sales targets. Therefore they will be more new models or updated cars. Consumers can make a decision based on a larger scale.

　　In 2009, the overall sales in China's auto market reached 13 million units. People had estimated that auto market would still grow in 2010. However, they could not have expected the growth rate should reach 40%. As a result, the production capacity failed to meet the surging demand. Then automakers made their sales targets based on the data of 2010. Though some factors may exert effects such as government policies and financial crisis, plenty of automobile manufacturers still raised their targets.

　　It is reported that though FAW Toyota was affected by the crisis of recalls, it still completed the sales target-500,000 units. In 2011, FAW Toyota raised the target and the growth rate should be 10%.

　　At the end of 2010, other auto companies also released their sales plans. In 2010, Dongfeng Nissan was relatively successful in niche markets. With the help of a variety of models, Dongfeng Nissan's annual sales reached 660,000 units. In 2011, Dongfeng Nissan introduced the tenth-generation Sunny, which will become an important model. The giant automaker has set the sales target-772,000 units with the growth rate of 28.7%.

　　In the year of 2010, Dongfeng Peugeot achieved the annual sales of 160,000 units. The new model 408 played an important role. Regarding the sales in 2011, Dongfeng Peugeot has higher target-200,000 units. In 2011, Dongfeng Peugeot will introduce 3008 and 508 and it hopes that these two models would promote the sales.

　　On the conference held during Guangzhou Auto Show, Mazda revealed that the sales target for 2011 is 280,000 units. Compared with the sales in 2010, the growth rate is 20%. However, the goal will be jointly reached by Chang'an Ford Mazda and FAW Mazda. Compared with Mazda, FAW Toyota is more cautious.

　　Among all the automakers, FAW Toyota is not the only automaker which took a conservative approach. In 2010, Shanghai GM achieved the sales of 1.05 million units. In 2011, its sales target is 1.15 million units with the growth rate of less than 10%. Beijing Hyundai is planning to build the third plant. For 2011, it plans to sell 720,000 vehicles, up by 3% compared with the previous year. Dongfeng Honda has set the sales target of 280,000 units and the growth rate is less than 8%. However, among all the automakers which have released the sales targets, smaller automakers tend to set a higher goal. For example, Shanghai Automobile's target is 230,000 units, up by 47% compared with the sales in 2010-160,000 units. Dongfeng Liuzhou Auto's goal is 180,000 units with an increase of 60%. Among domestic brands, Chery plans to sell 900,000 vehicles in 2011, up by 30% year on year. In the year of 2010, BYD followed an active path. Faced with the crisis related to dealerships, BYD now takes a conservative route.

　　Following is the forward-looking of new models which will be introduced in 2011.

　　SAIC Roewe's first SUV-W5. Roewe W5 is an urban SUV which is specially designed for the road conditions in cities. W5 adopts Ssangyong's technologies and brand. Competing with Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV-4 and other relatively mature models, W5 is not very competitive. However, if its major competitors are Korean models, it may gain some market shares.

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