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GM Q1 sales in China rise 25%

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-04-03 17:47

General Motors Corp and its joint venture partners said today their combined sales in China jumped 25 percent in the first quarter, a boon for the US automaker struggling to revive sales at home.

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GM is the market leader in China, the world's second-biggest -- and fastest-growing -- vehicle market, The Associated Press reported.

The company said its sales in China totaled 291,588 vehicles in the first three months of the year. In March alone, it moved 100,538 units, just the second time single-month sales have topped 100,000, it said in a release.

The first-quarter performance nudged GM's share of the Chinese vehicle market up 0.5 percent point over the same period last year to an estimated 13.9 percent, it said.

In 2005, GM overtook Germany's Volkswagen AG as China's biggest automaker. In 2006, GM's sales in the country rose 32 percent to 876,747 vehicles.

"Coming off a record year in 2006, China's vehicle market has remained remarkably strong thus far in 2007," Kevin Wale, president of GM China, said in the release.

Wale said growth was led by demand for passenger cars, saying the company was pleased with sales of its Buick Excelle and GL8 along with new models such as the Cadillac SLS and Chevrolet Epica.

ShanghaiGeneral Motors Corp, one of the company's seven joint ventures in China, chalked up sales growth at 26.5 percent with 113,768 vehicles, while sales of the Cadillac line soared 62.2 percent in the first quarter to 1,797 units.

GM has leaned heavily on China to balance out sluggish sales and crippling legacy costs in the US and elsewhere, and yesterday said it would use this month's Shanghai Auto Show to debut a pair of concept cars in its Chevrolet and Buick lines.

China surpassed Japan last year to become the world's No. 2 vehicle market after the United States based on strong truck and bus sales, but is still in third place for passenger cars.