The joint-venture car maker FAW-Volkswagen Automotive again offered a generous year-end bonus equivalent to a 12 month salary last year, roughly amounting to 50,000- 80,000 yuan, China Business News reported Monday.

This amount tops the 22 major Chinese car makers', with employees receiving 27 months' basic salaries as their 2011 year-end bonus, almost 10 times that of self-owned car makers such as Jianghuai Automobile and Chery Automobile.

"A company's year-end bonus is consistent with its performance, to be more specific, with its sales volume and especially profits," said a senior officer of FAW-VW.

Since the launch of Magotan, Sagitar, and Golf series products, FAW-Volkswagen's sales volume surged and topped four months in row during 2012. It sold 1.33 million units in 2012, a 28.7 percent increase over 2011. This sales volume ranks second among all car makers.

Car makers that closely followed FAW-VW on the list include Chang'an Ford Mazda Automobile, Shenlong Automobile and Shanghai Volkswagen, which are also joint-venture brands. Chang'an Ford Mazda's year-end bonus equals to six months' worth of salaries, with its production line workers receiving about 20,000 yuan. It sold 418,500 units in 2012, a 31 percent increase over 2011, which is its best sales performance ever.

Compared with joint-venture car makers, poorly performing self-owned car makers produced relatively slim year-end bonuses, with an average of below four months' pay. Among 8 Chinese brands, Shanghai Automobile offers the highest amount, which equals to six months' pay, 25,000 yuan for regular workers. Production line workers at Jianghuai Automobile and Chery Automobile were awarded 6,000 to 8,000 yuan, which amounts to two months' of salaries.