(Yicai Global) March 26 -- Guangzhou Automobile Group aims to boost its sales by 10 percent this year after performing better than most vehicle firms in China last year due to its strong joint ventures with Japanese carmakers.

The auto manufacturer intends to sell 2.25 million vehicles in 2021, the Guangdong province-based company said in its 2020 earnings report released yesterday. It plans to launch more than a dozen new and redesigned car models this year, including five products with independent branding.

GAC's sales exceeded 2 million units last year, dropping by almost 1 percent from 2019. Meanwhile, China's passenger car sales declined by 6 percent amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Doing better than average still meant reporting narrowing gains. GAC's net profit fell by 9.9 percent to CNY6 billion (USD910 million) last year from a year ago, according to its earnings report. Its revenue rose by 5.8 percent to CNY63.2 billion (USD9.7 billion).

What buoyed GAC's performance was its joint ventures GAC Toyota and GAC Honda as their sales rose in 2020 and made up 70 percent of the shareholder's total. Some of the best-selling models included Accord and Camry. 

But other brands were becoming less popular. Sales of joint venture GAC Fiat Chrysler Automobiles slumped by over 45 percent while GAC Mitsubishi Motors sold almost 44 percent fewer units. Sales of self-developed Trumpchi and electric car marque Aion slid by almost 8 percent.

The company is accelerating its transformation into a high-tech firm. Last year, it invested CNY5.1 billion in research and development of super-fast-charging graphene batteries and another technology that enables a range of 1,000 kilometers for electric vehicles. Those innovations should be seen on the market this year.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi