Two joint ventures of the German carmaker Volkswagen and one of the US auto giant General Motors top the rankings of China's biggest 10 sedan producers both in production and sales in the first half of this year, latest figures released by the China Automotive Industry Association shows.

According to the figures, the top 10 carmakers by output duringthe first six months are Shanghai Volkswagen, FAW-Volkswagen, Shanghai General Motors, Guangzhou Honda, Tianjin-FAW-Xiali, Beijing Hyundai Motor, Chang'an Automobile, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen, SAIC Chery and a new comer of FAW Toyota Motor, with lastyear's ninth player Fengshen Motor out.

Shanghai Volkswagen, Shanghai General Motors and FAW-Volkswagenalso take the first three places by sales during the same period, followed by Guangzhou Honda, Chang'an Auto, Tianjin-FAW-Xiali, Beijing Hyundai, SAIC Chery, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen and FAW Toyota.

But the explosive growth of the auto industry last year has notrepeated in the first half as many more businesses are joining in the industry to cut a slice. The top ten's first-half output and sales only account for 72.8 percent and 72.3 percent of the nation's total, each falling by six percent and 8.2 percent compared to those of the last year's top ten players.

The top ten also have more cars stockpiled back in their warehouses due to falling sales since April for ever intense competition.

Nearly 70,000 cars have been added to this year's topten's stocks, over half of the 114,100 units that fail to be sold among 1,246,100 sedans produced in the first half.

Last year's top ten, however, only had 2,724 cars out of the national total of some 40,000 cars unsold out of the 2,018,900 sedans manufactured.

But Shanghai Volkswagen, Guangzhou Honda, Beijing Hyundai, SAICChery and FAW-Volkswagen stand out with big rises in both output and sales compared with the same 2003 period. Chang'an continues its double-digit growth, while the output and sales of Tianjin-FAW-Xiali drop by 18.34 percent and 20.62 percent respectively.

Source: Xinhua