Changchun, Oct 20 : The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) has declared that the country's production of automobiles since the beginning of
2009 hit 10 million units Tuesday, Xinhua reported.

China is the third country now after the US and Japan crossing the annual automobile production output of 10 million.

A celebration to mark the event, jointly sponsored by the CAAM and China Society of Automotive Engineering, was held at the First Automobile Works (FAW) Group Corp. headquarters in Changchun, the capital of northeast China's Jilin Province.

FAW also launched its new model Jiefang truck, with the first vehicle rolling out of its unit bearing the serial number 10000000 to mark the occasion, the report added.

China's automotive industry has sustained a robust growth despite the global economic slowdown this year, thanks to the government support package for the sector.

The government under its package lowered the purchase tax on cars with engines under 1.6 liters from 10 percent to 5 percent, allocated allowances to farmers to upgrade their farm vehicles and to mini-truck and mini-van owners for upgrading their vehicles, the report said.

The CAAM announced in a release Oct 1 that country's auto output surged 78.85 percent year-on-year to 1.36 million units in September, while total sales hit a new monthly high of 1.33 million units, up 77.88 percent from an year earlier.

FAW, established in 1953, is China's oldest automotive group and has produced country's first domestic model of truck, under the Jiefang brand in 1956, and later came up with Hongqi (or Red Flag) bulletproof sedans, which have been used by China's state leaders.(IANS)