German luxury carmaker Audi has reported record monthly sales for seven consecutive months in China. By the first week of October, the carmaker had sold more cars in China than it did last year. The brand moved 225,588 cars in 2010. It aims to sell some 300,000 vehicles in China by the end of the year, to clearly retain its leadership in the premium segment in the country. Audi now builds the A4L, A6L sedan and Q5 SUV at its plant of FAW Volkswagen in Changchun. The joint venture plans to more than double its annual production capacity to 700,000 Audis by 2015, with 500,000 units from the Changchun plant and 200,000 units from a newly approved facility in Guangdong province. The company is now working hard to expand its product portfolio and increase the proportion of imported vehicles in its China sales. Sales of imported Audi cars totaled 40,500 units in the first nine months this year, a 68% surge over a year ago. More than 1,400 units of its imported flagship A8L sedan were sold in China last month, doubling the figure from the same month a year ago. Its top-of-the-line SUV Q7 registered sales of about 1,600 units, a surge of 84% over a year earlier. The Audi TT sports car also saw sales double in September to nearly 3,000 units. Earlier this month, the smallest Audi model, the A1, hit the Chinese market with a tag price from CNY224,800 to CNY289,800. Diverse customized options are one of the biggest attractions for the model that mainly targets young buyers. The company also plans to soon introduce its A7 Sportback to China. Audi will have its entire lineup on the Chinese market by 2015, the China Daily reports.

China’s leading truck maker Beiqi Foton Motor Co announced that it will invest CNY2.47 billion in a plant in India to meet increasing demand. The company’s board of directors has approved its plan to set up Foton Motors Manufacturing India in the state of Maharashtra with a registered capital of about CNY626 million. The new plant, scheduled to begin operation in the middle of 2013, will have an initial annual output of 96,000 vehicles that will later be increased to 120,000 units. Currently the Indian medium and heavy-duty truck market is dominated by Tata Motors with nearly a 70% share. The rest is shared by fewer than 10 manufacturers including Navistar and Mahindra. Analysts said that it will be a challenge for Chinese manufacturers to break through, although opportunities do exist and Foton could be a strong competitor to Tata in terms of product quality. Beijing-based Foton sold 680,000 vehicles in 2010, up 68% from a year earlier. In addition to India, Foton also has plans to build plants in Russia, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia before 2015.

The Chinese government is considering to allow some foreign insurers to sell third-party liability insurance to car owners. Foreign insurers would need to meet criteria for profitability, solvency, the size of their parent companies and operating history in China. Last year, China’s 33 property insurers posted a combined CNY7.2 billion in losses on third-party liability insurance for car owners, equal to 9.6% of their earned premiums. “The new policy would have limited market impact,” said Industrial Securities Analyst Zhang Ying. “This is a stable market with established domestic insurers and premiums set by the regulator.” Foreign property insurers, which have about a 1% share of the market, were not keen about moving into car insurance as there was limited scope for competition, industry sources said. Vehicle insurance premiums accounted for about 75% of the CNY400 billion of property insurance premiums in China last year. In the case of PICC Property & Casualty Company, the nation’s biggest non-life insurer, the figure was 80%.

SAIC Motor Corp has launched its first new energy vehicles. The new Roewe 750 hybrid is a mid-to-high class sedan mainly targeting government departments with a price tag of CNY236,800. A CNY32,000 subsidy is offered on the model to public departments in 25 cities nationwide as part of a scheme to promote green cars. The Roewe 750 hybrid, equipped with a battery-powered electric motor, improves fuel efficiency by 20% compared to the gasoline version and uses only 7.5 liters per 100 kilometers. The company plans to sell 500 of the cars this year and 3,000 next year. China plans to have 1 million battery-powered vehicles on roads by 2015 to reduce emissions. The Roewe 750 hybrid is competitively priced against Toyota’s Camry hybrid, which costs about CNY300,000, and the Buick Lacrosse at CNY260,000. SAIC, the Chinese partner of General Motors and Volkswagen, has invested heavily in developing new energy vehicles in China, where foreign companies are also making aggressive moves. SAIC earlier formed a joint venture with U.S.-based A123 to develop and produce batteries. Next year, the carmaker will introduce a pure electric vehicle to the market in addition to the Roewe 550 plug-in-hybrid. SAIC aims to have a 20% share of China’s new energy vehicle market by 2015, the Shanghai Daily reports.

Carmaker BYD Automobile is hoping its new e6 electric car, which went on sale in Shenzhen, will help steer a turnaround in the company’s fortunes. Senior Manager Paul Lin said BYD would see a profit on the car if sales exceeded 10,000 units a year. The model has so far received 1,000 orders in Shenzhen. BYD has been looking for a top seller to replace the dwindling popularity of the F3. Sales of the car dropped for the 12th consecutive month in August, denting the company’s bottom line and the value of its stock. The e6 model has been in use as a taxi in Shenzhen since May last year and sells for CNY369,800. BYD is hoping Hong Kong taxi operators will consider using the e6 to replace at least 300 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) taxis in the next three years. While electric taxis are expected to cost at least 10 %  more than the LPG versions, BYD’s models would help drivers cut their fuel expenses by half. There are about 18,000 taxis in Hong Kong. The carmaker is expected to deliver a right-hand drive, battery-powered single-decker bus prototype to Kowloon Motor Bus next month for road trials. The Hong Kong government has earmarked HKD180 million to help Hong Kong’s four public bus operators buy 36 green vehicles for trial. At HKD3.5 million each, the electric bus costs HKD1 million more than the single-decker diesel buses used in Hong Kong, but could help operators save up to 70% on fuel costs. BYD had earlier forecast that its net profit for the first nine months of this year would drop by 85% to 95% year on year to between CNY121.63 million and CNY364.88 million, the South China Morning Post reports.