General Motors and Ford saw their vehicle sales grow in China during March despite concerns about the slower growth in the Chinese economy.
GM reported its sales increased 8% last month to a March-record 338,350 units. GM has 11 joint ventures, two wholly owned foreign enterprises and more than 58,000 employees in China.
Sales by SAIC-GM-Wuling and Cadillac, which saw its sales grow by more than 76%, reached an all-time monthly high, while Shanghai GM and Chevrolet had record March domestic sales.
Shanghai GM’s domestic sales were up 3.9% and SAIC-GM-Wuling’s domestic sales were up 16.9%. Cadillac sales in China came in at 9,197 units. Demand for the luxury brand increased on an annual basis, as sales of the ATS-L and ATS totaled 3,593 units.
Sales of Baojun, GM’s indigenous Chinese brand, jumped 599.8% on an annual basis to 33,659 units, led by sales of 30,008 units of the Baojun 730 MPV.
Overall, GM sales in China are up slightly during the first quarter and on pace to break the record it set in 2014 but not enough to catch the industry leader in China, the Volkswagen Group.
Meanwhile, Ford reported sales increased by 1% during March after growing by 9% in February as the automaker and its joint-venture partners in China sold 104,842 vehicles in March. Through the first quarter, Ford China vehicle sales 9%.
(Caddy, Lincoln NY debuts target Chinese market as well. For more, Click Here.)
Ford has added more than 600,000 units of annual production capacity in China over the past six months, giving Ford the ability to grow sales in China from last year’s total. Ford also recently announced plans to buy an existing plant will allow it to boost its production capacity before the end of 2016.
(Click Here for details about Toyota’s plans for expansion in China.)
China remains one of the industry’s key global industry’s key battle grounds because of its huge size, growing incomes and appetite for new vehicles among its millions of consumers.
(To see more Cadillac’s plans to debut the CT6 Hybrid in Shanghai, Click Here.)
Toyota Motor Corp., which held off Volkswagen AG to remain the world’s top automaker in 2014, may lose the sales crown as early as this year as it falls behind in China, the world’s biggest auto market.
Since GM acknowledged using U.S. tax payer bailout money to expand their ops in China, will GM be reimbursing U.S. tax payers the ~$10 Billion still owed plus interest? They should. They claim the new GM is an ethical company looking to be a world leader. Now is the time to prove it by repaying U.S. tax payers.
you and the rest of the idiots that keep talking about GM owe the tax payers need to grow up. This is the STOCK market, The government chose to sell their stocks at the time the stock was trading low
The idiots are the fools who don’t understand that they are paying for GM/Chrysler’s duping of the morons in DC who made such an unethical agreement with a group of executives that ran their companies into bankruptcy and were never held accountable for their actions. If being in denial makes you feel better, so be it. All of these criminals should be in prison.
By GM using the U.S. tax payer LOAN funds to expand their operations in China, this should have resulted in a $100 Billion dollar fine in addition to immediate and full repayment of the loan, with interest. The politicians in Washington failed the populace once again.