Bumper year for Soul supplier

Dongfeng Yueda Kia, a Sino-Korean car joint venture, expects to grow sales by 62 percent this year, following its blistering growth in the first 11 months of 2009. It also plans to launch the Soul, its new crossover model, later this.

The company, jointly owned by the Dongfeng Motor Corp and Yueda Group in China and South Korea's Kia Motors Corp, said it plans to sell 230,000 cars this year, up from 142,000 in 2008.

From January to November, Dongfeng Yueda Kia's sales surged by 66 percent to almost 210,000 cars, including 91,178 units of its compact Cerato, the company's best-selling model.

In November alone, the Jiangsu-based joint venture almost tripled its sales to 28,067 units compared to a year earlier, according to the company's figures. This is the sixth consecutive month this year that the company has sold in excess of 20,000 cars.

For 2010, Dongfeng Yueda Kia says it is aiming to sell 330,000 cars.

The company plans to increase the combined production capacity of its two plants to 330,000 units annually next year, from 280,000 units at present, in order to meet growing demand.

According to a previously announced place, the capacity will ultimately rise to 430,000 units a year.

The Soul crossover will come with two engine options - 1.6 liters and 2.0 liters.

Its current lineup also includes the compact Forte, the subcompact Rio, the mid-sized Optima, the Sportage sports-utility vehicle and the Carnival multi-purpose vehicle.

In the first 11 months of this year, vehicle sales in China jumped by 42.4 percent year-on-year to 12.2 million units, according to industry data. Full-year sales are anticipated to exceed 13 million vehicles.

Dongfeng Yueda Kia predicts that the overall vehicle market in China will grow by 15 percent next year.

(China Daily 12/14/2009 page7)