China’s fourth-largest carmaker is targeting up to 2.35 million vehicle sales in 2020, General Manager Zhang Xiyong said at a news conference in the northeastern province of Jilin, compared with 2.26 million units last year.
He said group revenue rose 4.3% in 2019 to 501 billion yuan and that the company, whose partners include Daimler AG and Hyundai Motor Co, hopes to increase the figure to 520 billion yuan this year.
“The Chinese auto market has been sliding and competition is getting more and more brutal,” Zhang said at the briefing.
Official forecasts suggest more pain ahead in the world’s largest auto market.
The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers last month said sales may drop 2% to 25.3 million vehicles in 2020, which would be a third straight year of declines.
The industry is suffering worldwide as trade tensions and slowing economic growth hurt demand, while competition from ride-hailing services reduces the need for individual car ownership.
Still, sales at BAIC’s joint venture with Daimler rose by double digits to 550,000 units in 2019, Zhang said.
The company also announced the launch of its Beijing-brand cars, with a target of selling one million units by 2030, according to Chairman Xu Heyi.
Rival SAIC Motor Corp, China’s biggest vehicle maker, expects sales to rebound following their first decline in 14 years, a person familiar with the company’s outlook said last week.
SAIC’s partners include Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co.
BAIC is a leader in electric vehicles thanks to the popularity of the EU5 SUV, produced by its unit Beijing Electric Vehicle Co.
Like the wider auto market, the EV segment is slowing in China as the government trims back subsidies.
That’s not stopping ambitious expansion plans by domestic players and international behemoths, including Tesla Inc, which is churning out sedans from a plant on the outskirts of Shanghai and will deliver its first locally-made vehicles from Tuesday.