Monday, 14 December 2009 at 11:28, Reuters, Beijing
German car maker Daimler AG expects double-digit growth in its North Asia sales next year, the chairman and CEO of Daimler Northeast Asia said on Monday.
The North Asia region, which consists of mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, is on track to sell 95,000 vehicles, including cars, trucks and vans, this year, Ulrich Walker said.
He also expects his firm's sales growth in China, now the biggest auto market in the world, to outperform the projected industry average of 15 per cent next year.
"Our expectation is that our growth will be higher than 15 per cent," he told reporters in a media briefing.
The sales projection, however, would represent a sharp drop from the company's 2009 passenger vehicle sales growth target in China, which is likely to be between 64 and 68 per cent.
Walker expects the launch of new E-class model in mid-2010, together with loans offered by its own financing unit, to help fuel growth of Daimler in China, especially in smaller cities.
China remains one of the few bright spots for German luxury car makers. Daimler's Mercedes-Benz unit sold 8,500 cars in China in November, up 224 per cent from a year earlier.
The company also said full-year sales in 2009 in China were expected to exceed the company's previous target of 65,000.
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