FAW Group, a leading Chinese automaker, said on Tuesday that it sold 444,112 motor vehicles in the first quarter, up 35.4 percent year-on-year.

The sales were equivalent to those for the first four months of last year and met 25.7 percent of the company's annual sales goal, which was 2.9 percentage points higher than the year-earlier level.

The total included 144,852 motor vehicles sold by FAW Volkswagen, up 48.7 percent, and 95,000 by FAW Toyota, up 74.4 percent.

In March alone, sales reached 179,461 vehicles, up 37 percent year-on-year. Sales growth was 33.7 percent for cars, 58.1 percent for medium- and heavy-duty trucks and 38.7 percent for light trucks.

According to the company, FAW Volkswagen ranked first in March among auto makers with sales of 54,279 passenger vehicles, up 34.2percent year-on-year.

March automobile sales included 20,396 Jetta cars, up 12.2 percent and 9,218 Audi cars, up 5.4 percent.

March also saw FAW Toyota sell 15,457 motor vehicles, up 74.4 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2008)