China FAW Group Corporation reveals ambitious targets at its 2022 annual news conference on Jan 18. [Photo provided to gojilin.gov.cn]

Giant automaker China FAW Group Corporation recently highlighted the development of the company and the strong performance of its luxury Hongqi car brand in 2021 – as well as business goals for 2022.

That's when it held its 2022 annual news conference on Jan 18 in the city of Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin province.

FAW Group sold 3.5 million vehicles throughout the year, generating an operating income of 707 billion yuan ($111.42 billion), a year-on-year increase of 1.4 percent.

The Changchun-based group said its brands continued to maintain steady growth, with the Hongqi luxury car marque in particular posting sales of 300,600 vehicles in 2021, a year-on-year surge of 50.1 percent.

In the past year, FAW Group's total R&D expenditure came in at 21.42 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.9 percent, accounting for 3 percent of its total operating revenue.

The company reportedly made 63 breakthroughs in key core technologies and completed a total of 4,757 patent applications.

Looking forwards, FAW Group is projected to sell 4.1 million vehicles in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 17.1 percent. Operating income is seen hitting 770 billion yuan, up 8.9 percent.

Moreover, the group's market share is expected to reach 15 percent.