CHINA'S Geely Automobile Holding Ltd posted a slower net profit growth in 2011 from a year earlier as China's auto market cooled.

The net income of China's private carmaker rose to 1.54 billion yuan (US$244 million) last year, up 13 percent from 2010, Geely said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday. The profit increase was a drop from the 16 percent gain in 2010.

The carmaker last year sold 421,611 vehicles, just a 1 percent annual increase. But the gain trailed behind the 5.2 percent increase for the overall passenger-car market in China in 2011.

But exports helped the carmaker to offset somewhat the weak domestic demand. It sold 39,600 vehicles overseas last year, an annual surge of 93 percent.

Zhejiang Province-based Geely targets to boost sales by 9 percent this year to 460,000 units, according to the statement.