Great Wall Motor Co, China's biggest pickup truck maker, denied that the company had recalled any vehicles from Australia despite the cars sold in the country were found to contain banned asbestos material.

"As the engine gaskets containing asbestos are not exposed outside, they will not harm the drivers' health," said Xu Hui, a company secretary from Great Wall Motor said in Hong Kong on Monday.

"No car was recalled from Australia in the past 11 days since the incident took place. None of the consumers have demanded replacement of their engines after we explained to them thoroughly about the issue," Xu said during a media briefing in Hong Kong.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on August 15 issued an alert, warning that it is monitoring a recall of approximately 23,000 Great Wall and Chery motor vehicles with engine and exhaust gaskets containing asbestos.

Recognizing that asbestos does not present any risk to consumers during the vehicle's use, the commission said consumers should not perform do-it-yourself maintenance that might disturb these gaskets as asbestos is a prohibited hazardous substance.

Xu said Great Wall Motor has replaced all gaskets with non-asbestos products on all its vehicles sold both on the mainland and abroad since May.

He indicated that vehicle sales in Australia, which remain at around several hundred to one thousand, were unaffected.

"While we export cars to the so-called Pan-European Market including Australia, we will become more careful with their market guidelines in the future," Xu added.

The Hong Kong-listed carmaker's first-half business outperformed a number of its peers on the mainland as its overseas sales had helped offset slowing domestic sales on cooling demand and government controls.

Net profit for the six months ended June 30, 2012 rose 29.9 percent to 2.35 billion yuan from 1.81 billion yuan a year earlier, the company told the Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday. Revenue over the period increased 28.8 percent to reach 18.29 billion yuan, according to the company.

The company will also alter its annual sales target of 550,000 cars in 2012, after selling an aggregated 262,018 vehicles in the first half, representing 47.6 percent of the overall target volume of the year.

litao@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 08/28/2012 page2)