Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., the Chinese partner of Ford Motor Co. and Suzuki Motor Corp., forecast exports will jump fivefold to 100,000 vehicles in 2010 as demand for its compact models rises in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe.

``We are fully confident that we can export a large number of cars to the overseas market,'' General Manager Zhang Baolin told reporters during an economic conference in the eastern city of Suzhou today. ``The U.S. is the final target.''

Changan Auto is targeting overseas expansion after new models spurred a 44 percent increase in third-quarter sales, helping the company to rebound to a profit from a net loss a year earlier. Ford has invested more than $1 billion in China since 2003, enabling the Chinese automaker to expand its product range.

The company, based in the southwestern city of Chongqing, exported more than 20,000 vehicles, mostly compact cars, in the first nine months of this year, compared with 15,000 for the whole of 2005, Zhang said today. Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe will still account for most of the company's exports in 2010, he said.

The yuan-denominated shares Changan Auto have risen 45 percent on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange this year, compared with a 61 percent increase in the benchmark Shenzhen Composite Index. The stock rose 1 percent to 5.27 yuan yesterday.

Own Designs

Zhang forecast that Changan Auto will capture as much as 10 percent of China's auto exports, which he forecast will exceed 1 million vehicles in 2010. The company's eventual target is to sell vehicles in the U.S., the world's biggest auto market.

``Only when China sells a large number of cars to the U.S. has China really become a car exporter,'' Zhang said.

Chinese carmakers may take years before exporting a large number of cars to the U.S. because of lower quality, staid designs and increasing labor costs, the New York Times reported on Oct. 18. Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. and Chery Automobile Co. both recently pushed back plants to export to the U.S. until at least 2009 from next year, the newspaper said.

Changan Auto, whose models include local versions of Ford's Mondeo and Focus sedans, plans to invest 6 billion yuan ($759 million) to develop its own designs in the next five years, Zhang said. ``In the future we will surpass our partners,'' he said, without elaborating.

Changan started making its first self-designed car model, the Benben compact, on Sept. 20. It aims to introduce at least 10 self-designed models and sell more than 250,000 of them over the next five years, Changan Vice Chairman Xu Liuping said in July.

Ford's Visit

The company had net income of 98 million yuan ($12 million) for the third quarter, compared with a 77 million yuan loss a year earlier, after sales rose to 5.6 billion yuan from 3.9 billion yuan. Changan Auto's venture with Ford has added three new or revamped models this year and cut prices to boost sales.

Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co., half-owned by Changan, more than doubled sales in the first nine months of the year to 87,930 vehicles, Ford said on Oct. 10. Mondeo sales rose 33 percent to 35,750 units. The venture began making Ford's Volvo S40 sedans in July, selling 1,007 by the end of September.

Ford, based in Dearborn, Michigan, owns 35 percent of Changan Ford, while Mazda Motors Corp. holds 15 percent. The venture also makes Fiesta cars. Ford Chairman Bill Ford will visit the company next week, Zhang said today.

Profit from Changan Ford accounted for 80 percent of Changan Auto's total profit in the first half, compared with 28 percent a year earlier, the company said on Aug. 22. Changan Auto also makes Suzuki Swift compact cars.

To contact the reporter on this story: Irene Shen in Shanghai at ishen4@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: October 21, 2006 05:24 EDT