General Motors said on Jan. 4 it had sold a record 1.83 million vehicles in China last year, and expressed optimism for even better results in the year to come.
The results marked a 66.9% sales jump year-on-year.
GM's market share was up 1.3 percentage points to an estimated 13%, thanks to strong sales of Buick, Chevrolet and Wuling vehicles. "Despite the sales records in 2009, it looks as if 2010 will be even stronger," GM China Group president Kevin Wale said.
"The industry outlook is strong and we expect more growth, albeit on a somewhat slower pace."
The Detroit auto giant noted China, whose car sales outstripped those of the United States for the first time in January 2009 to make the Asian giant the world's biggest auto market, would be important to drive GM's overall sales. "As China asserts itself as the world's largest vehicle market, our domestic operations will be counted on to deliver solid results," Wale said.
The country's auto sales for the first 11 months of the year reached 12.23 million units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, boosted by Beijing's efforts to stimulate domestic consumption.
Sales by Shanghai GM, GM's car joint venture with China's largest auto maker SAIC Motor Corp, rose 63.3% from the previous year to 727,620 units in 2009.
SAIC-GM-Wuling, GM's commercial vehicle joint venture with SAIC and China's Liuzhou Wuling Automobile, sold 1.06 million vehicles last year, up 63.9%.
FAW-GM Light Duty Commercial Vehicle, a tie-up with China's FAW Group launched in August, sold 34,510 light trucks and vans in the four months until the end of December.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010
