Changan Automobile earned a net profit of 549 million yuan ($88.41m) over the first quarter of the year, China Securities News reported earlier this week, citing the manufacturer's recently released financial performance review. The figure is equivalent year-on-year growth of 274.49 percent. The manufacturer's total business returns for the quarter totaled 10.18 billion yuan ($1.64b), representing year-on-year growth of 34.9 percent.

       Changan attributes its dramatic growth in net profits to increasing sales of its own brand models, such as the Eado and CS35, as well as rising profits of its Changan Ford joint venture. Changan Ford's New Focus (pictured above) and Kuga SUV played a crucial part in boosting the JV's profits, with monthly sales of the latter increasing from 1,000 units in January to 5,000 units in March.

      Changan's net profits are anticipated to continue over the following months, with the two new own brand models it released last month, the Eulove (pictured below) and the Raeton, expected to attract a lot of new buyers.