Automaker sees vehicle sales dropping in Q4

SHANGHAI - SAIC Motor Corp, China's largest domestic automaker, expects its first-half sales to increase to more than 1.65 million vehicles from 1.23 million a year earlier, President Chen Hong said.

SAIC, which makes vehicles with General Motors Co and Volkswagen AG, forecasts 2010 sales of 3 million units. Industry-wide, China's vehicle sales may contract in the fourth quarter, with full-year volume of 15.5 million units, Chen said at the company's annual shareholders' meeting in Shanghai on Tuesday.

"It's hard to foresee significant growth in the fourth quarter," John Zeng, an IHS Global Insight analyst, said on Tuesday. "Growth in the second half will be poorer than in the first as car sales reached peak volume in third and fourth quarters last year." Comparison with the high base in 2009, growth is bound to slow, he said.