SAIC, which operates joint ventures with Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co., attributed the robust profit growth to a surge in light vehicle sales.

During the first six months of 2010, Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Co., which is equally owned by SAIC and Volkswagen, sold 450,679 vehicles, a rise of 43.5 percent from a year earlier. Meanwhile, Shanghai General Motors Co., a 51-49 JV between SAIC and GM, sold 288,853 vehicles, up 66.2 percent year-on-year.

Sales at SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co. (SGMW), a mini commercial vehicle manufacturer, reached 681,198 units in the same period, an increase of 29.7 percent on an annualized basis. SGMW is a 51-34-16 joint venture between SAIC, GM and Liuzhou Automobile Co.

SAIC's independent passenger vehicle company, which makes cars under the Roewe and MG brands, sold 80,170 cars, up 99.4 percent from a year earlier.

Its bus and truck subsidiaries -- Shanghai Huizong Automotive Manufacturing Co., Shanghai Sunwin Bus Corp., SAIC-IVECO Hongyan Commercial Vehicle Co. and Nanjing IVECO Motor Co. -- also posted robust sales growth in the latest six-month period.

Sales at SAIC's wholly owned subsidiaries and joint ventures totaled 1,775,785 units, up 44.9 percent from a year earlier.

The automaker predicts auto sales in China -- including its own -- will slow in the second half of this year.

In the first six months, auto sales nationwide increased 47.7 percent year-over-year to 9,016,100 units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

But the growth in demand has slowed since April. The latest data from CAAM shows auto sales across China in July only increased 14.4 percent year-over-year to 1,244,000 units. 

"We estimate the domestic auto market as a whole will return to the stable and normal growth this year and that total sales throughout the year will exceed 16 million units this year, an increase of 17 percent from 2011," SAIC said in the interim report.

The company did not provide a forecast of its own sales target for all of 2010.