German auto giant Volkswagen AG posted a 36.7 percent surge in 2009 China sales to maintain the top position it has held for more than 20 consecutive years.

The company said in a recent statement that it sold a total of 1.4 million vehicles on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong last year, with sales of its three locally built brands all hitting record highs.

In 2009 Volkswagen sold about 1.12 million of its namesake brand cars, up 32.4 percent from the previous year. The company attributed the rise largely to its popular new models, especially the Passat New Lingyu, New Golf, Lavida and New Bora, as well as its cutting-edge TSI engines.

Sales by its Audi brand rose 32.9 percent to 158,941 units while its recent arrival Skoda more than doubled sales to 122,566 units.

The company also moved 484 Bentleys and 118 Lamborghinis in China last year.

The automaker now expects to further tap the Chinese market and nearly double its nationwide sales to 2 million over the next decade.

Dr Winfried Vahland, president and CEO of Volkswagen Group China, said the company will roll out seven new models this year jointly with its local partners Shanghai-based SAIC Motor Corp and Changchun's FAW Group Corp.

In the next three years, the company will invest more than 4 billion euros ($5.72 billion) in China to expand production capacity at its Nanjing and Chengdu plants. With such huge investment in locally produced cars, the company plans to introduce about 20 new and revamped models to Chinese buyers between 2010 and 2012.

The carmaker will also begin to produce VW's innovative 7-speed DSG double-clutch automatic transmission at its Dalian plant this year.

Vahland said the company will continue its green effort and reduce the average fuel consumption and emissions in all its products by 20 percent this year.

Booming market

Last year witnessed a big change to the global auto industry map, when China replaced the United States as the world's largest auto market. Full-year sales are likely to exceed 13 million units, an annual increase of about 40 percent.

It is widely believed that the major contributor to the staggering market growth is the government's stimulus measures that include tax cuts on low-emission cars and subsidies for rural buyers.

As the major beneficiaries of government incentives and booming market demands, Volkswagen and its counterparts in China all enjoyed robust growth last year.

US automaker General Motors posted a 66.9 percent jump in its China sales last year, selling a total of 1.83 million vehicles.

Japan's top carmaker Toyota Motor Corp reported an increase of 21 percent in its full year China sales to 709,000 units.

Ford Motor's China vehicle sales in 2009 rose 44 percent from a year earlier to 440,619 units.

South Korea's biggest automaker Hyundai-Kia says its 2009 China sales will surge 83 percent to 800,000 vehicles.

Industry analysts generally agree that the growth will continue in this year with the extension of government incentives and emerging demand from smaller cities and the vast rural areas, but at a much slower pace.

Vahland forecast the growth rate to be between 10 percent to 15 percent and said Volkswagen is well prepared for a long-term race in China on the basis of its solid cooperation with SAIC and FAW.

According to Marvin Zhu, a senior market analyst at JD Power, China's light vehicle demand this year is expected to reach 13.9 million units, up 6 percent from 2009.

Passenger vehicle demand will remain brisk with sales expected to reach 9.6 million units, a 10 percent growth year-on-year, while the commercial vehicle market is likely to become stagnant as some sales are pulled ahead last year, he said.