CHANGCHUN, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese auto maker First Automobile Works Group (FAW) exported 40,000 vehicles in 2017, representing robust growth of 92.7 percent from the previous year.

The company reported 3.408 million wholesale vehicle deliveries last year, up by 7.2 percent annually. The group recorded total market sales of 3.346 million units last year, growth of 7.7 percent from the previous year.

Last year, the group subsidiary FAW Jiefang and FAW Benteng both reported wholesale vehicle deliveries of 336,000 units respectively. The groups's joint ventures reported 2.691 million vehicle deliveries.

Thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative, the group has expanded overseas business to 48 countries, with the total export volume of wholesale cars and auto parts exceeding 5 billion yuan (793 million U.S. dollars).

The state-owned FAW group was founded in 1953 and headquartered in China's northeast Jilin Province. It was ranked 125 on the 2017 Fortune Global 500.