Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd, a unit of China's biggest privately owned automaker, sold 59 percent more cars in June than a year earlier, helped by demand for its Free Cruiser compact car and other models.

Sales at the company's two carmaking ventures rose to 13,999 units last month, Hong Kong-based Geely Automobile said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. First-half sales jumped 60 percent to 91,953 vehicles, the statement said, according to Bloomberg News.

Geely Automobile, which specializes in selling cars at less than US$5,000 to first-time buyers, is increasing production and making higher-priced models to boost its share of the world's third-largest vehicle market. The firm aims to sell 180,000 cars this year, a rise of 35 percent from last year.

"The group is well on track to achieve its full-year sales volume target" based on sales in the first half, Geely Automobile said in the statement.

Growth in China, the world's fourth-largest economy, is making car ownership affordable to more people. Volkswagen AG, the biggest overseas carmaker in China, said on Tuesday sales in the country rose 30 percent to 345,375 units in the first half.

Geely Automobile's shares fell almost one percent to HK$1 (13 US cents) in Hong Kong yesterday. The stock has more than tripled this year, compared with a 9.4 percent gain in the key Hang Seng Index.

Elsewhere, sales of Mercedes-Benz in China surged 25 percent in the first five months of this year to reach 13,122 units, Beijing Daily reported yesterday.

Till Becker, chief executive officer of DaimlerChrysler in Northeast Asia attributed the sales increase to strong demand for the Benz-S series.

The report said the consumption tax introduced by China on April 1, which was aimed at discouraging consumers from buying cars with large engines seems to have had little impact on the sales of imported luxury sedans.

The 300C series, which is scheduled to be produced in Beijing by Mercedes-Benz (China), saw January to May sales jump 67 percent from the same period last year.

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