Booming auto sales

2010 was a banner year for the Chinese auto market, with domestic and foreign manufacturers posting record sales in the mainland.

Chinese domestic automaker Chery Automobile Co. sold a record 118,000 cars last December, pushing its full-year delivery to more than 682,000 cars, enabling it to finish the year with 36 percent higher sales than 2009.

Sino-Korean joint venture Dongfeng Yueda KIA sold more than 333,000 cars last year, including about 70,000 Sportage SUVs. Total sales were up 38 percent over 2009.

China's largest private carmaker Geely sold 415,000 cars last year, up 27 percent from 2009. The company said it expects 2011 sales to increase 16 percent to 480,000 units.

In addition, Chinese auto exports continued to grow. Figures from China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed that Chinese auto exports continued to recover last year, increasing shipments by 64 percent over the figures of 2009 to 544,900 vehicles.

In late December, FAW announced that sales of its car brands exceeded 1 million units in 2010.

Xu predicted that by 2015, the company would control 20 percent share of the overall market with annual sales of 5 million cars, including 2 million own-brand vehicles. To reach those targets, Xu said FAW needs to raise 150 billion yuan in capital.

"My company is a step toward establishing a joint stock company and a long-awaited public listing,"Xu told China.org.cn. However, there is no specific timeline for going public, he said.

Future market

The future to green car predominance in China is not without obstacles. Lagging technology and indifferent consumer attitudes still remain huge challenges for automakers. Indeed, some experts have pointed out that it could take years before technology and infrastructure for green cars will be available.

At the 2010 Global Automotive Leaders Summit last April, Zhang Xiaoyu, honorary president of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, estimated the Chinese alternative fuel car market would take two decades to catch up in terms of technology, scale and volume.

To bridge the technology gap, Xu said FAW had set up cooperation with many world-leading carmakers like Audi AG, Ford Motor Company, Toyota Motor Corporation, and Volkswagen AG, and has already made strides in its hybrid and zero-emission models.

"All of [China's] automakers are standing at the very beginning of the new energy vehicle competition,"Xu said. "We all face the same problems, such as high cost, unreliable and inconvenient battery charging technologies and so on. It's really a long way to go, but challenges will never stop entrepreneurs' ambitions."

Despite production hurdles, Xu remained confident that the booming Chinese market would drive innovation.

"Ultimately, the market will determine which technology we will use, plug-in or hybrid, which cars consumers will drive and which company can lure more consumers. The demand is there and the booming market is pushing every automaker,"Xu said.