Chery, China’s largest independent auto maker, said sales rose to a monthly high of 35,000 in January, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company didn’t provide January 2008 sales for comparison. Chery expects to sell 419,000 vehicles in 2009, up 18% year-on-year, helped by lower vehicle-purchase taxes and other government stimulus measures. Sales fell 6.6% to 356,000 units in 2008, down from 381,000 units in 2007. Meanwhile, Honda posted year-on-year sales growth of 17% in January with 38,022 units sold. This follows details last week that China’s automobile sales dropped 7.8% year-on-year in January and expectations that passenger car sales will stay flat or fall in 2009 because of falling consumer confidence.
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