Chery Automobile Co, China's first vehicle exporter, expects sales to surge at least 58 percent this year as rising fuel prices drive up demand for its QQ compact cars.

 

The automaker aims to sell more than 300,000 vehicles this year, of which 281,000 units will be sold domestically and another 30,000 overseas, Vice President Jin Yibo told reporters in Beijing yesterday. The company, based in eastern China's Wuhu, sold 189,400 units last year, including 171,400 in the local market.

 

Drivers in China are buying smaller cars as fuel prices climb. The government raised the price of gasoline and diesel by more than 10 percent in May.

 

Chery, which sells its compact for as little as 29,800 yuan (US$3,700), is also selling cars in Malaysia and has plans to begin exports to the US and Europe.

 

New York-based importers Visionary Vehicles LLC, working with Chery, plans to sell Chery cars in the US as early as 2007. Billionaire investor George Soros may spend as much as US$200 million to fund a joint venture with the Chinese carmaker to produce vehicles for the US, Automotive News reported earlier this month.

 

(Shanghai Daily June 28, 2006)