THE MARKETS

Auto Euphoria

While Chinese auto manufacturers reel from a slow market, their overseas counterparts are glittering with buoyant sales in China.

German auto giant Volkswagen sold 313,036 Audi cars in China in 2011, soaring 37 percent from the year before. The bright performance allowed China to shift to the company's number one spot in terms of markets.

"This result exceeded our sales forecast significantly," said Peter Schwarzenbauer, a board member for sales and marketing of Audi. He added that Audi continues to see strong growth potential in China.

In another move, Swedish auto guru Volvo Car Corp. said its China sales jumped 54 percent in 2011, while its sales in North America and Europe grew 23 percent and 13.1 percent, respectively.

U.S. General Motors and its joint ventures in China sold around 2.55 million vehicles in China last year, growing 8.3 percent year on year.

Huawei Shines

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., China's largest mobile network equipment maker, is bursting with vitality thanks to robust device sales.

The Shenzhen-based company said its device sales jumped around 50 percent year on year to reach $6.7 billion last year, with handheld device shipments exceeding 150 million units, up 30 percent.

While it still relies on its network equipment business as a pillar source of revenues, Huawei has been making inroads into consumer devices because of buoyant global demand for smart phones and tablets.

In 2011, Huawei joined hands with China Telecom to launch a series of smart phones including the C8500 and C8650, which have become market hits.

Wan Biao, head of the firm's device unit, said around 65 percent of the handsets were purchased through wholesales by telecom operators, while the remainder was sold via online retail sales.