Both China's production and sales of automobiles are expected to surpass 7 million this year, said the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers on Thursday.

The association made the prediction based on the country's automobile production and sales situation in the first 10 months of this year, which hit 5.89 million and 5.77 million autos, up 27.56 percent and 25.69 percent respectively from January-October of 2005.

In October alone, China produced 588,800 automobiles, up 41.43 percent from October last year, while the sales totaled 576,300 autos, an increase of 27.55 percent, said the association.

Last month, China manufactured 422,000 of passenger vehicles and sold 410,000 of them, up 41.2 percent and 28.15 percent respectively from the same month of 2005,

While the output and sales of commercial vehicles stood at 166,600 and 166,300 in October, a year on year increase of 42 percent and 26 percent respectively.

The country's top 10 vehicle sellers in the 10-month period this year are: Shanghai Automobile Industry Corporation, FAW Volkswagen, Dongfeng, Beijing Hyundai, Chang'an, Guangzhou Honda, Chery, Harbin Hafei, Shenyang-based Brilliance and Geely.

The accumulated vehicle sales of the 10 auto makers came to 4.844 million from January to October, accounting for 84 percent of the country's total.

Meanwhile, the association's latest data showed that the country's own brand sedans enjoyed robust sales in January-October this year, with the sales totaling 3.04 million autos, up 39.96 percent from the same period of last year.

Source: Xinhua