German carmaker Volkswagen Group expects to sell more than 800,000 vehicles in China this year, encouraged by its strong performance in the first half.

The projection, made by Volkswagen's China chief Winfried Vahland in an interview yesterday in Beijing, is up from 711,298 units it moved in the world's fastest-growing major car market last year.

Its January-to-June sales on the mainland and Hong Kong surged 24.6 percent year-on-year to a record 431,369 units, including 379,705 Volkswagen-brand cars, 49,267 Audi vehicles and 2,274 units from its Czech unit Skoda.

The company's record sales figure is likely to help it remain the top seller in China's passenger car market though its arch-rivals, such as General Motors and Toyota, have yet to reveal their first-half results in the nation.

"This (record sales) indicates that our 'Olympic Program' has been yielding good results in China," Vahland said.

Volkswagen, the sole automotive partner of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, flagged off the program in 2005 to launch 12 to 14 new models by 2009 in China, cut costs by 40 percent by 2008 and improve sales and service networks.

Vahland predicted that China's entire passenger car market would reach 5 million units this year, up from the company's previous forecast of 4.6 million units.

Last year, 4.2 million passenger cars were sold in the country.

"However, we will not slacken our efforts to cut costs and improve customer satisfaction, although we performed well in the first half," he said.

He warned that interest rate rises and soaring oil prices in China are likely to have a negative impact on the car market.

Volkswagen now runs a joint venture with First Automotive Works Corp in the northeastern city of Changchun, making Jetta, Sagitar, Golf, Bora and Caddy as well as the Audi A6 and A4.

The venture will launch a 1.8-liter turbo Magotan sedan next week.