General Motors and China's FAW Group said on Feb. 5 they are in talks to form a partnership, in a deal that would see the U.S. auto giant get a further foothold in the Chinese market.

The two automakers plan to set up a light commercial vehicle joint venture, an FAW official said. Light commercial vehicles include light trucks, pickup trucks and shuttle-type buses such as Ford's Transit.

FAW Group has existing passenger auto-making joint ventures with Volkswagen and Toyota Motor Corp, two of the top-selling passenger vehicle makers in China by sales volume.

GM has a passenger vehicle-making joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp. and a commercial vehicle-making joint venture with SAIC and Wuling Automobile Co.

China allows foreign auto makers to form two passenger vehicle joint venture partnerships and two commercial vehicle joint venture partnerships in the country, Zhang said.

GM and its joint ventures sold more than 1.09 million vehicles in China in 2008, its biggest market outside the U.S., the company said.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009