China's automobile manufacturers sold 4.58 million passenger vehicles in the first nine months of this year, up 23.84 percent over the same period of last year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The total included 3.44 million cars, up 25.76 percent, 251,700 sports-utility vehicles, up 51.7 percent, and 165,300 multi-purpose vehicles, up 20.75 percent.

In September, passenger vehicle sales rose 16.54 percent from the previous month to 561,000 units.

The top 10 sedan brands, with sales totaling 1.12 million units and a 33-percent market share, included Jetta (FAW-Volkswagen), Santana (Shanghai Volkswagen), Buick Excelle (Shanghai General Motors), Camry (Guangzhou Honda), QQ (Anhui Chery), and Xiali (FAW Tianjin).

The three largest Sino-foreign carmakers continued to be the top three sellers. FAW Volkswagen was first with sales of 684,786 passenger vehicles, followed by Shanghai Volkswagen and Shanghai General Motors.

The indigenous carmaker Chery maintained its fourth place.

(Xinhua News Agency October 15, 2007)