Net income in 2011 rose by more than 40 percent, SAIC reported. But that was a significantly slower growth rate than in 2010, when the company's profits doubled.

"China's car market will not see the same exponential growth we saw in the past few years," said Han Weiqi, an analyst with CSC International Holdings Ltd. in Shanghai. "Investors are selling such stocks to move into more high-growth sectors," Han said by telephone.

Last year, SAIC's sales rose 12 percent, the company said.

Industry sales of vehicles in China rose 2.5 percent in 2011, down from 32 percent in the previous year. In December 2010, China ended a package of tax breaks and rebates that had helped it to overtake the United States as the world's largest auto market in 2009.