FIRST-HALF earnings at Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co (stock code: 600418) fell 19.7 percent despite an increase in total revenue as the firm changed strategy to invest in passenger car production.

Net income declined to 227 million yuan (US$29.9 million) from January to June, the Anhui Province-based car maker said in its statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday. Sales revenue rose 25.12 percent to 6.6 billion yuan during the same period from a year earlier.

The car maker, a specialist in making commercial vehicles, attributed the lower profit to its initial investment in the passenger car segment as it aimed to benefit from China's accelerating auto sales with a wider line-up of products.

The company raised 811 million yuan in April through selling additional shares. It plans to invest 13 billion yuan in a plant to assemble multi-purpose vehicles with an annual output of 60,000 units.