Mazda will launch its popular compact car the Mazda2 in China next month and aims to increase its overall sales in the booming market to 180,000 cars next year from this year's estimated 100,000, an official said.

Mazda2 hatchbacks will go on sale in China in January and the company aims to sell more than 55,000 of them there, said Ken Haruki, a spokesman for the company.

They will be produced at a joint-venture factory in Nanjing with U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co. and China's Changan Automotive Group, he said. Mazda is 33.4 per cent owned by Ford.

Japan's fifth-largest automaker also plans to launch the sedan type of Mazda2, known as Demio in Japan, early next year, he said.

Mazda's sales in China this year is expected to reach about 100,000 cars, Haruki said.