The Chevrolet Malibu and Buick Encore were among the new models that GM began offering in China last year.
General Motors and its mandated joint ventures reached all-time highs for sales in China during March and the first quarter of 2013. Sales in March increased 12.6% on an annual basis to 290,538 units. It was the second-highest monthly sales total in GM’s history in China. This helped domestic sales in the first quarter grow to 816,373 units, an increase of 9.6% from the same period last year. Far smaller Ford China also set sales records in March, selling 81,387 vehicles for the month, a 65% increase from last year, bringing first quarter sales to a record 186,596 wholesale vehicles, up 54% from the first quarter of 2012. Both GM and Ford will need the income to help offset growing losses in Europe.
Shanghai GM’s domestic sales last month rose 15.2% on an annual basis to a March record 126,785 units. SAIC-GM-Wuling’s domestic sales rose 10.9% to 155,065 units and FAW-GM’s domestic sales rose 12.8% to 8,369 units. Both were all-time monthly records.
Leading the way for Shanghai GM was Buick, which had record March domestic sales of 70,118 units, an increase of 22.8% year on year. In the U.S., Buick sold 18,000 cars and crossover vehicles in total during March. In China, Buick posted a strong performance from its original and aging Excelle family, whose sales rose 23.8% to 29,875 units. It was followed by the Excelle XT and GT, whose sales grew 18.4% to 16,653 units, and the Regal, which had sales of 8,258 units, on growth of 34.4%.
Record Ford Motor monthly and quarterly numbers were led by continued high demand for the Ford Focus. Focus sales more than doubled in March, up 148%, with 37,814 wholesales sold compared to 15,267 wholesale cars in March last year. First quarter sales were also strong, growing a 156% in March, with 96,180 wholesale cars sold compared to 37,607 wholesales in the first quarter of 2012.
Chevrolet’s Chinese sales last month were down 3.1% on an annual basis to 53,038 units. Its most popular model was the Sail family, which sold 19,226 units. Demand for the Malibu was up 93.2% to an all-time monthly high of 8,287 units, less than half of what Malibu sold in the U.S. where it is considered a failure.
Cadillac sold a March record 3,629 units in China, as demand rose 32.2% year on year. It received a strong boost from the locally made XTS, its newest model, which had sales of 2,006 units in its first full month on the market and was the brand’s most popular product. In the U.S. Cadillac sold 15,800 vehicles. Lincoln in contrast is not on sale in China, and the moribund brand sold only 6,825 vehicles in the U.S. as the launch of the new MKZ is behind schedule because of quality problems.
GM’s Wuling sales in China increased 13.7% from last March, hitting a new record for any month of 148,060 units. It was driven by the Hong Guang, which had increased sales of 90.3% to 50,032 units. Sales of the Baojun brand rose 39.8% year on year to 7,005 units in March.
Ford’s passenger car joint venture Changan Ford Automobile (CAF) saw sales skyrocket in reached a record 55,348 in March, up 102%, more than double the 27,374 in March 2012. CAF’s quarterly sales nearly doubled as well, up 92% with 128,006 compared to 66,790 in the first quarter of 2012.
Ford’s commercial vehicle investment in China Jiangling Motors Corporation (JMC), sold 25,600 wholesale vehicles in March, up 16% from 22,005 in March 2012. Quarterly sales were up 7% to 56,420 during Q1 of 2013 compared to 52,692 sold in the first quarter of 2012.
With total overall light vehicle sales projected at more than 20 million for 2013, China will easily retain its title as the world’s largest auto market followed by the U.S. at more than 15 million.
