CHONGQING, April 21 (Reuters) - Changan said

on Tuesday it aims to be one of the world's top-10 automakers by

2030 and grow its global sales by more than two-thirds, joining

a number of other Chinese automakers setting ambitious sales

targets in a race to expand into overseas markets.

The state-owned automaker said it is targeting global sales

of 5 million vehicles by 2030 - with a minimum target of 4

million units - with fully electric or plug-in-hybrid models

accounting for 60% of the total.

Changan announced its sales target in the run-up to the

Beijing auto show.

Last year Changan sold 2.9 million vehicles, including in

joint ventures with Ford and Mazda ( MZDAF ), making it the

world's thirteenth-largest automaker by sales.

Based on 2025 industry figures, sales of 5 million vehicles

would make Changan the world's No. 5 automaker by sales. The

company's brands include Changan, Deepal, Nevo and Avatr.

The company is also targeting overseas sales of between 1.4

million and 1.8 million units by 2030. Changan sold 638,000

vehicles outside China in 2025.

As growth in China's car market, the world's largest, has

slowed, domestic automakers are seeking growth in overseas

markets and have set bold sales targets.

Earlier this year, Geely announced a 2030 sales

target of 6.5 million vehicles, up from 4.2 million in 2025. BYD

, China's biggest electric automaker by sales, has

told investors it wants half its sales to come from outside

China by 2030.

Changan also said it will launch two fully electric sedans

powered by sodium ion batteries supplied by Chinese battery

maker CATL in 2027. At scale, sodium ion batteries

are far cheaper to make than lithium ion batteries because they

use salt - which is ubiquitous and easy to acquire.

The disadvantage of sodium ion batteries is they currently

have a lower energy density than lithium batteries, which means

less range.

The sedans Changan will launch in 2027 will have a range of

around 400 km (249 miles).

(Reporting By Nick Carey; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)