GM sets September sales record in China: up 15.2% to 319,936 units

In September, General Motors and its joint ventures in China had their second-best month of 2014. Their domestic sales rose 15.2 percent on an annual basis to 319,936 units, an all-time high for the month.

During September, GM and its joint ventures also surpassed 20 million cumulative sales in China.

Shanghai GM and SAIC-GM-Wuling as well as all of their brands had record September domestic sales. Shanghai GM’s sales were up 19.6 percent year on year to 158,792 units and SAIC-GM-Wuling’s sales increased 14.5 percent to 159,906 units. FAW-GM’s sales were down 73.8 percent to 1,238 vehicles.

Buick’s September sales in China increased 17.8 percent on an annual basis to 83,638 units. Sales of the original Excelle family rose 9.9 percent to 29,549 units and sales of the Excelle XT and GT rose 10.1 percent to 21,636 units. In addition, sales of the Regal and Encore totaled 10,491 units and 6,988 units respectively.

Chevrolet sales in China came in at 68,347 units in September, an increase of 19.3 percent year on year. The brand was led by the Cruze, which benefited from the launch of a new-generation model. The nameplate generated sales of 24,256 units. It was followed by the Sail, which had sales of 19,825 units. Demand for the Malibu rose 34.0 percent to a September record 11,812 units.

Cadillac sales in China increased 51.4 percent from September 2013 to 6,807 units. Its best-selling models were the XTS and SRX, which had sales of 2,971 units and 2,556 units respectively.
Wuling sales in China totaled 135,128 units in September, an increase of 4.2 percent year on year, as sales of the Hong Guang family grew 18.4 percent to 60,652 units. Baojun sales during the month jumped 147.1 percent to 24,778 units. Demand for the Baojun 730 MPV was a very strong 21,016 units in its second month on the market.

GM’s strong performance in September took its sales in China for the first nine months of the year to 2,581,130 units, an increase of 11.6 percent on an annual basis and a record for the period. Shanghai GM’s domestic sales rose 10.6 percent to 1,228,740 units, SAIC-GM-Wuling’s sales grew 13.9 percent to 1,318,080 units and FAW-GM’s sales were down 17.2 percent to 33,998 vehicles.

During the first nine months of 2014, Buick sales rose 10.7 percent year on year to 670,999 units, Chevrolet sales were up 6.9 percent to 505,316 units, Cadillac sales increased 62.6 percent to 52,425 units, Wuling sales grew 13.7 percent to 1,236,511 units and Baojun sales increased 17.9 percent to 81,569 units.

General Motors traces its roots back to 1908. GM has 10 joint ventures, two wholly owned foreign enterprises and more than 58,000 employees in China. GM and its joint ventures offer 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 2013, GM sold nearly 3.2 million vehicles in China.