(Adds details on Gol sedan, background)
SHANGHAI, Feb 28 (Reuters) - German automaker Volkswagen AG said on Friday it aims to sell 600,000 cars in China this year, a 17 percent leap from 2002, underscoring the rapid growth of the world's fastest growing major car market.
"That is just a target for us," said Ma Jinhua, a spokeswoman for Volkswagen, quoting a speech delivered on Friday by the automaker's Asia Pacific chief, Bernd Leissner, in Shanghai.
China's dominant car maker sold 513,000 cars in the country in 2002, a jump of nearly 43 percent. It expects car sales on the mainland, its second biggest market after Germany, to hit the one million mark by 2007.
"Volkswagen's sales target is quite reasonable when you look at their overall capacity," said Lin Wenjun, an analyst at Capital International Holdings.
Volkswagen also expected to produce 30,000-40,000 of its new Gol car in China in 2003, selling for between 75,000 yuan ($9,060) and 98,300 yuan, officials quoted Leissner as telling auto executives as the first Gol rolled off an assembly line in Shanghai.
The car maker would start off with a compact two-door version of the Gol and introduce a four-door version later this year, spokesman Michael Wilkes told Reuters.
"They are trying to go for the low-end customer in China, which might be the main segment in future," Lin said.
Volkswagen, which has invested about three billion euros in China, is planning to expand capacity at its Changchun and Shanghai ventures, chasing galloping demand sparked by rising incomes in China. ($1=8.277 Yuan)