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A worker assembles a side door of a vehicle at the Hongqi production workshop of China FAW Group in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, April 9, 2019. China's leading automaker FAW Group posted a skyrocketing year-on-year increase in the sales of its Hongqi-brand vehicles in the first half of the year (H1), with the amount surpassing the total of 2018. The company's Hongqi production workshop based in northeast China's Jilin Province sold 33,242 vehicles in H1, up 255 percent year-on-year. (Xinhua/Xu Chang)

CHANGCHUN, July 8 (Xinhua) -- China's leading automaker FAW Group posted a skyrocketing year-on-year increase in the sales of its Hongqi-brand vehicles in the first half of the year (H1), with the amount surpassing the total of 2018.

The company's Hongqi production workshop based in northeast China's Jilin Province sold 33,242 vehicles in H1, up 255 percent year-on-year.

The sales boom was attributed to the company's launch of two models including a new Hongqi H5 and the brand's first pure electric SUV E-H3, since the beginning of this year.

The lack of product portfolio had restrained the domestic brand's sales. FAW said it will strive to diversify the Hongqi products. Its new medium-sized SUV H7 will hit the market later this month.

Hongqi, meaning "red flag," is China's iconic sedan brand established in 1958 and has been used as the vehicle for parades at national celebrations.

The company launched a customized service of ordering its H5 and L5 models in 2018 when it also saw the number of dealership stores topping 100 across China in its drive to expand its sales network.

It has developed partnerships with tech firms including Huawei, Baidu, Intel and iFlytek, as well as Jilin University in the provincial capital Changchun, to work on autonomous and smart driving, intelligent safety systems and big data mining and management.