SHANGHAI - China's car sales are expected to continue their upward trajectory in the coming years through a combination of organic demand, "indigenous brands" built with foreign joint-venture partners and increased ownership by drivers in smaller towns and cities.

Vehicle sales are expected to rise to 23 million units by 2015, up 27 percent from 2010, a senior Chinese government official said on Monday in Shanghai, just ahead of the official opening of the Shanghai Auto Show.

That figure suggests a slowing growth rate because it is lower than the 32.4 percent rate in 2010, when China's sales totaled 18.1 million units. Car sales alone rose one-third last year to 13.8 million units.

Those sales secured the country's position as the world's biggest auto market for the second consecutive year.

Su Bo, vice-minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, disclosed the forecast at a seminar being held ahead of the Shanghai Auto Show, which opens to the news media on Tuesday and to the public on Thursday.

Reuters