Changan Auto, Ford's main Chinese partner, posted a 16 percent slide in quarterly earnings as it battled intense competition in a crowded and slowing market.

Chongqing Changan Automobile, the country's third-largest vehicle maker, said it aimed to sell 600,000 cars and minivans in 2005, up about a third in 2003.

The company, a former military-run auto parts supplier, said it had sold 454,262 units last year, up 17.8 percent but well off an earlier target of up to 530,000.

It did not break out estimates for its venture with Ford in the landlocked Southwestern city of Chongqing.

Yin Jiaxu, chairman of Changan's state parent, said last month that sales from the Ford plant should rise 25 percent this year. The plant's unit sales had been 50,000 last year, about 15,000 lower than an earlier target.

Car sales in China grew 15 percent last year after almost doubling a year ago, hit by government-ordered credit curbs to cool the economy.

Changan's net profit in the October to December period fell 16 percent from a year earlier to 272.6 million yuan (US$32.94 million), as calculated from figures reported previously.

"In 2004, the company faced national macroeconomic controls, a weak market, fierce price competition and rapid development by competitors," Changan said in a statement in the Securities Times.

Full-year net profit fell 9.2 percent to 1.32 billion yuan, while revenue climbed 29 percent to 18.53 billion yuan.

(Shenzhen Daily April 18, 2005)