Chongqing Chang'an Automobile Co. announced Wednesday its third quarter net profit dropped to 246 million yuan (US$29.6 million), 31.8 percent less than the same period last year.

Chongqing Chang'an, the listed arm of one of China's leading automobile makers, Chang'an Automobile Group, said the slump in profit was due to a slowdown in China's automobile sales growth.

Its core revenue in the third quarter also fell slightly down to 3.28 billion yuan from 3.38 billion yuan in the year-earlier period.

As for the first three quarters, its revenue was up 26.1 percent year on year at 13.42 billion yuan, but its net profit dropped 7.2 percent year on year to 1.04 billion yuan.

It has a 50-50 joint venture with American automobile giant Ford Motor Co.— Chang'an Ford Automobile Co.

The company sold 102,969 passenger cars in the first three quarters, compared with 75,524 units in the same period last year. However, the volume only accounts 50 percent of the car sales by Chang'an Ford.

Chongqing Chang'an sold 187,718 minibuses in the first three quarters, up from 176,986 units in the same period last year, and sold 46,357 minitrucks, up from 25,995 units in the year-earlier period.

Due to sluggish sales growth, the company said it had reduced its annual sales target to 500,000 units from 530,000 units. The target included its car sales from Chang'an Ford, it said.

(Shenzhen Daily October 21, 2004)