SAIC Motor, China's biggest automaker, Friday announced its first-quarter net profit was expected to grow by more than 300 percent year on year.

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The company gave no absolute figures for the estimated results, but said its net profit for the same period last year stood at 626.94 million yuan (91.9 million U.S. dollars), in a statement filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The carmaker said the performance stemmed from booming sales in the first three months, which jumped 63 percent from a year earlier to 890,000 units.

SAIC sold 2.73 million vehicles in 2009, up 57.2 percent，with market share in China rising 1.4 percentage points to 19.9 percent, according to the company's annual report released last week.

China overtook the United States last year as the world's largest auto market, with sales surging 46.15 percent to 13.64 million units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers this January.

The company's stock rose 1.24 percent to 20.44 yuan per share Friday.