General Motors and its joint ventures sold a May record 231,183 vehicles in China. Demand was up for the market leader 21.3% from the same month in 2011 and 1.7% from April of this year. At Ford China, increased sales of passenger cars offset a slump in light commercial vehicles during May, which led to an 8% increase year-over-year at 48,608, vehicles. Volkswagen Group the number two seller in China by far has not reported May sales yet.
Ford’s passenger car joint venture, Changan Ford Mazda Automotive Ltd. (CFMA) achieved record sales of 34,550 Ford-brand cars, a 23% increase compared to May 2011. Ford’s commercial vehicle investment in China Jiangling Motors Corporation (JMC) sold 14,056 vehicles this month, down 16% from last year. Both numbers are wholesale deliveries to dealers.
Shanghai GM’s domestic sales rose 7.1% from May 2011 to 99,113 units. SAIC-GM-Wuling sold 127,749 vehicles in China, an increase of 35.9% year on year. FAW-GM sold 3,756 vehicles in the domestic market last month, down 0.7% from last May.
Buick sales totaled 51,360 units in May, down 1.2% from the same month last year. Sales of its original Excelle family grew 19.0% year on year to 23,085 units. Sales of the Excelle XT and GT were also strong, totaling 11,985 units.
Chevrolet sales in China were up 13.1% on an annual basis to a May record 48,563 units. Sales of its most popular model, the Cruze, rose 34.0% to 18,977 units. It was followed by the New Sail, which totaled sales growth of 86.8% to 18,773 units.
Cadillac sales were down 2.2% on an annual basis to 2,205 units. Leading the way for GM’s luxury brand was the SRX, which had sales of 1,754 units in May.
For the first five months of 2012, GM and its joint ventures sold a record 1,203,552 vehicles in China, an increase of 11.5% year-over-year. Shanghai GM’s sales in China rose 6.4% to 530,422 units, SAIC-GM-Wuling’s domestic sales grew 16.6% to 645,020 units and FAW-GM sold 25,815 vehicles in China, off by 3.5%. In the first five months of 2012, Ford China sold 224,882 wholesale units.
