2010-10-29 10:53

BEIJING - SAIC Motor Corp, China's largest automaker, said on Thursday that its third-quarter profits jumped 46.88 percent to 3.71 billion yuan ($550 million), partly aided by government policies to boost the country's domestic auto industry.

Revenues reported by the Shanghai-based automaker more than doubled to 81.86 billion yuan. Also, earnings per share stood at 0.436 yuan, up 12.95 percent year-on-year.

The company, which has joint ventures with General Motors and Volkswagen, attributed its profit surge to rising auto sales boosted by government actions to support the auto industry.

For instance, China launched its old-for-new car program last June as part of its efforts to stimulate domestic consumption amid the global downturn and to eliminate oil-guzzling vehicles.

Further, in early June the government rolled out new incentives for purchases of fuel-efficient cars, including a subsidy of 60,000 yuan for purchasing all-electric vehicles and a 3,000-yuan subsidy for certain fuel-efficient cars equipped with 1.6-liter, or smaller, engines.

SAIC Motor sold 2.67 million vehicles during the first nine months of 2010, up 36.91 percent year-on-year.

Shares of the automaker fell 3.73 percent to 20.13 yuan on Thursday.