General Motors and its government-required joint ventures sold 240,554 cars and trucks in China in February, setting a record for the month it said today in Shanghai. Sales rose 30% from February 2011.
The makes February the third highest for any month in GM’s history in China where it has led sales among foreign automakers for seven straight years. In January, GM sales dropped 8% year-over-year, and Ford’s plummeted 42%, leading to speculation that the Chinese economy is slowing down.
All three of GM’s primary manufacturing joint ventures set February records. Shanghai GM’s domestic sales rose 31.8% y-o-y to 103,097 units; SAIC-GM-Wuling’s sales in China increased 28.7% on an annual basis to 130,193 units, and FAW-GM’s sales in the domestic market were up 39.2% year on year to 7,068 units.
Buick sales rose 31.1% on an annual basis to 52,773 units, a record for the month compared to 14,000 in the U.S. for the same period. Leading the way for the brand once again was the Excelle family, which registered a jump in demand of 70.7% from February 2011 to 23,564 units. It was followed by the Excelle XT and GT, which had sales growth of 70.3% to 11,890 units.
Chevrolet sales in China rose 23.7% on an annual basis to an all-time February high of 52,407 units.(U.S.151,000 ) Sales of the Cruze increased 36.1% from the same month in 2011 to 20,662, just outselling the Cruze in the U.S. at 20,427 units. New Sail sales rose 34.1% on an annual basis to 14,184 units. The Malibu, which launched mid-month, had sales of 3,333 units.
Sales of the Cadillac brand were up 6.6% year on year to 2,124 units – a record for the luxury brand in February. It was led by the SRX luxury utility vehicle, which had sales of 1,527 units.
On the strength of Sunshine minivan sales of 50,950 units, the Wuling brand sold 117,969 units in China. This represented an increase of 24.5% from the second month of 2011 and was an all-time February high. The Baojun brand had sales of 8,017 units in its first February in the market.
In the first two months of 2012, GM and its joint ventures sold a record 487,208 cars and trucks in China, an increase of 7.7% from the same period last year, compared to 377,268 in the U.S.
GM has 11 joint ventures, two wholly-owned foreign subsidiaries and more than 35,000 employees in China. GM and its joint ventures offer, arguably, the broadest lineup of vehicles and brands among automakers in China. Passenger cars and commercial vehicles are sold under the Baojun, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Jiefang, Opel and Wuling brands. In 2011, GM sold more than 2.5 million vehicles in China, a record and its second straight year above 2 million units. (See Ford China Sales Plummet 42% in January? GM off 8%)
