Shanghai (ZXZC)- FAW Group's vehicles outputs and wholesale volume for the first half of 2019 reached 1,598,970 units and 1,594,464 units respectively, the Chinese state-owned automaker announced via its WeChat account.

Its self-owned premium car brand Hongqi produced 36,807 vehicles through June, a year-on-year surge of 298.6%. For the first two quarters, the brand's total sales shot up 255% to 33,242 units, exceeding its full-year sales of 2018 (31,400 units).

For the month of June, Hongqi saw its sales surge 167% from the year-ago period to over 8,000 units, the 16th month in a row achieving year-on-year growth.

Hongqi launched its first SUV model, the HS5, into the market on May 26, officially kicking off its SUV offensive. The automaker still gets two SUV models to be rolled out in the second half of the year, including the HS7 and the E-HS3 BEV. Besides, its first roadster is scheduled to be unveiled in September, and an all-electric model with 500-km-plus range will come out at the end of 2019.

The year-to-date outputs and wholesale volume of Jiefang truck brand rose 20.9% and 6.7% over the previous year respectively to 199,320 units and 205,208 units.

In addition, FAW Car's Jan.-Jun. sales outputs and sales amounted to 89,474 units and 86,573 units, FAW Group said.

Joint ventures manufactured 1,262,528 vehicles during the first six months, among which FAW-Volkswagen and FAW-Toyota produced 892,696 units and 369,832 units respectively.

Moreover, two joint ventures sold 1,249,517 vehicles in total—869,484 units were from FAW-Volkswagen and 380,033 units were offered by FAW-Toyota (Photo source: FAW Group's WeChat account).