UPDATE 1- DaimlerChrysler Jan-Sept NE Asia car sales surge

SHANGHAI, Oct 18 (Reuters) - DaimlerChrysler A.G. (DCXGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) sold 37 percent more cars in northeast Asia in the first nine months of 2006 than a year earlier, it said on Wednesday.

The auto giant sold 28,452 cars in the nine-month period compared with 20,728 a year earlier. Its northeast Asian region comprises mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and South Korea.

"We continue to see strong sales momentum in the region," Till Becker, DaimlerChrysler's northeast Asia chief executive, said in a statement, adding that the figures reinforced the firm's plan to continue localising its production.

In China, the company's Mercedes division saw sales jump 47 percent in the first three quarters, while sales at its Chrysler arm went up 31 percent.

AC_FL_RunContent('codebase','http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,19,0','width','175','height','130','align','middle','src','http://today.reuters.com/media/editorial/election2006/electionsNews_3headlines_v1','quality','high','bgcolor','#ffffff','name','foo','allowscriptaccess','always','pluginspage','http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer','movie','http://today.reuters.com/media/editorial/election2006/electionsNews_3headlines_v1' );

In South Korea, Mercedes group sales rose 39 percent and Chrysler sales were up 21 percent.

DaimlerChrysler continued to outperform the growth of the ovrall car market in China, where total car sales climbed 31.39 percent to 3.68 million cars in the January to September period, according to figures from the national auto association.

The company's archrival, BMW (BMWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), saw its China sales surge 56 percent to 26,438 units. Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.T: Quote, NEWS, Research), which analysts say may overtake General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) as the top foreign auto seller in China as early as 2008, sold 203,000 vehicles in China over the period, a jump of 164 percent.

But Honda Motor's (7267.T: Quote, NEWS, Research) China vehicle sales rose a moderate 18.5 percent, which analysts blamed on a limited product range.

Market View

DCXGn (Daimlerchrysler )
Last:	€41.46
Change:	+0.95 (+2.35%)
Revenue (ttm):	€149,776.0M
EPS:	2.80
Market Cap:	€41,439.63M
Time:	9:40am ET