Date: Mon Oct 29 04:35:12 2007

Fiat's Iveco Sees Annual China Sales Growth Up To 11% By '15

SHANGHAI (Dow Jones)--Fiat SpA's (FIATY) truck unit, Iveco, expects its sales in China to grow at an annual rate of 10%-11% by 2015, Rudy Von Miester, general manager of Iveco's China operations said at the China Europe International Business School's (CEIBS)  5th Annual China  Automotive Industry Forum 2007 on Monday Oct.29.

Miester didn't give any figure for Iveco's current overall sales growth in China, but said the company's light truck sales have been rising at 15%-20% a year in the country in recent years.

Iveco's heavy truck segment has fared even better, with year-on-year sales growing at 70%-100% so far this year, he told reporters during an industry conference in Shanghai.

The Italian automobile maker is also likely to benefit from Beijing's plan to develop China's poorer western regions, Miester said. "We are well positioned to support many of those infrastructural projects with our heavy-duty product line," he added.

Iveco has a joint venture with China's Nanjing Automobile (Group).

-By Sun Yan, Dow Jones Newswires; 86-21-6120-1200; yan.sun@dowjones.com