Buick Excelle continues to set records in spite of its age.
General Motors and its communist government required joint ventures sold 251,812 vehicles in China, a record for the month of October. Sales were up 14% on an annual basis, as GM’s major brands in China reached new highs for the month in the world’s largest auto market. GM is the largest automaker in the Chinese market.
During the first 10 months of 2012, GM and its joint ventures sold 2,333,624 vehicles in China, an increase of 10.5% year-on-year and a new record for the period. Shanghai GM’s domestic sales grew 7% to 1,084,443 units. SAIC-GM-Wuling’s domestic sales grew 14% to 1,199,937 units. FAW-GM’s domestic sales decreased -0.5% to 45,508 units.
Shanghai GM sold 117,611 vehicles in China during October, a year-on-year increase of 13.8%. SAIC-GM-Wuling’s domestic sales rose 15.9% on an annual basis to 129,806 units. FAW-GM sold 4,259 vehicles in the domestic market, down -2.7% from October 2011.
Buick sold 60,510 vehicles in China last month, an increase of 7.7% on an annual basis, compared to 13,000 in the U.S. The brand was led by the original Excelle family, which sold 23,414 vehicles. In addition, the Excelle XT and GT had sales of 16,541 units, an increase of 68% year on year.
Chevrolet sales in China totaled 54,660 (U.S. 135,000), an increase of 8.3% from the previous October. Its best-selling model was the Cruze, with demand totaling 20,690 (U.S. 19,000) – an increase of 4.6% year on year. Right behind it was the Sail family, which had sales of 18,385 units, a 14.9% increase year on year. Sales of the Malibu were strong as well, totaling 7,843 units (U.S. 9,600) in the nameplate’s first October being offered in China.
Cadillac sales in China increased 19.5% on an annual basis in October to 2,491 (U.S. 13,505). Its best-selling model was the SRX, which experienced a sales increase of 31% to 1,677 units in spite of punitive tariffs that can be higher than 20% on bigger vehicles (U.S. 5,500).
(Last December China’s Ministry of Commerce imposed a new tax on cars imported from the United States ranging between 2%-21.5%, with the rate increasing as the size of the vehicle’s engine increases above 2.5 liters. The Chinese government said this is to offset “unfair government subsidies” and a policy of dumping in the market – a laughable charge that is being challenged at the WTO by the U.S. See U.S. Treasury Says China Continues to Undervalue its Currency)
Wuling brand sales in China during October were 118,788 units, a year-on-year increase of 17%. It was led by the Sunshine, which had sales of 44,346 units. Another Wuling minivan, the Hong Guang, had sales of 34,220 units – an increase of 63.9% from last October.
Baojun set an all-time monthly sales record, surpassing 10,000 vehicles for the first time. It sold 10,968 vehicles, more than twice the number of the previous October. Sales of the brand’s most popular model, the 630, rose 32.6% on an annual basis to 6,634 units.
