China First Automobile Works reports a profit of 1.61 billion yuan (201 million U.S. dollars) in the first seven months of 2006, 6.4 times that of the same period a year ago.

The automaker based in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, said on Wednesday that it produced 679,000 vehicles from January to July, an increase of 21.8 percent year on year and it sold 650,000 vehicles, up 22.5 percent.

During the seven-month period, the company sold 527,000 passenger vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 32.4 percent. Sales from the FAW Volkswagen Automotive Company Ltd stood at 178,000 units.

Meanwhile, the company's total output value grew 45 percent to 103.1 billion yuan from January to July, while revenue amounted to 82 billion yuan, up 39.4 percent.

Source: Xinhua