Yutong Group, one of China's leading bus manufacturers, has reported strong growth in production and sales in the first three quarters of this year.

Sales of Yutong buses exceeded 14,319 units in the nine-month period, a year-on-year increase of 74 percent, the company said.

Meanwhile, its sales volume hit about 4.2 billion yuan (US$507.1 million), up 53 percent over the year-earlier period and almost reaching the total sales volume for the whole year of 2003.

In addition, the group's machinery arm sold about 2,000 units of engineering equipment worth a total of 500 million yuan.

Despite a slowing growth in the country's automobile industry, Yutong had enjoyed rapid development this year, the company said.

According to the latest statistics, the country's total output of bus dropped to 208,700 units in the first three quarters, down 1.52 percent from the same period last year, while its sales dipped 2.07 percent to 207,100 units.

Yutong is based in Luoyang City, central China's Henan Province. Since 1993, it has maintained an average annual growth of more than 50 percent.

Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies