SHANGHAI, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Car sales from top European auto maker Volkswagen AG's joint venture in the northern Chinese city of Changchun have jumped an annual 55 percent this year.
FAW-Volkswagen sold 298,000 cars in 2003, spokeswoman Cheng Rui said on Wednesday, declining to give further details.
The plant, a venture between the German automaker and First Automotive Works, is being expanded to bring annual capacity up to 330,000 from the present 300,000 units.
A new 1.2-billion-euro ($1.50 billion) factory is also being built in Changchun which will have capacity of 330,000 vehicles when it comes on line in 2007.
Sales figures for Shanghai Volkswagen, the company's other venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, were not immediately available.
Volkswagen is planning to double annual production in China, its second largest market after Germany, to 1.6 million vehicles in five years.
The company sold just over 490,000 vehicles in China in the first three quarters of 2003, up 33 percent from a year earlier, putting it well on track to reach its year-end target of around 600,000 units. ($1=.8001 Euro)