Sales of Mazda 6 sedans rose 47 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier to 17,589.(Photo: FAW.com) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, April 29 -- FAW Car Co Ltd's net profits more than tripled in the first quarter of this year.

    FAW Car, the listed unit of the nation's second biggest car maker, netted a net income of 311.76 million yuan (45.2 million U.S. dollars) from January to March, an increase of 261.08 percent from a year earlier, the car maker said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange yesterday.

    Changchun, Jilin Province-based FAW Cars' sales revenue amounted to 4.9 billion yuan, representing a 71.09 percent increase on the year.

    The car maker improved its sales by 70 percent to 280,000 units, outpacing the 22 percent growth for the nation's overall passenger car market.

    FAW Car, the Chinese partner of Japan's Mazda Motor Corp, produced Mazda 6 sedans locally in addition to its own Besturn brand.

    China's rising economy has made cars more affordable to Chinese customers, prompting car makers to expand capacity and launch new models to tap rising demand.

    FAW Car earlier said it would spent 575 million yuan to update assembly lines and add another 60,000 units into its production capacity.

    The company plans to make use of the additional production to introduce new models including the Mazda 6 wagon and other B-segment models within one and a half years.

    Considering the higher demand for China's self-branded model, FAW Car will also build more its Besturn models, a market which would be worth 821 million yuan by the end of 2009.

    Sales of Mazda 6 sedans rose 47 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier to 17,589.

    Sales of the companies Besturn sedans more than tripled to 10,783 units.

    (Source: Shanghai Daily)