GM, Ford monthly sales rise in China on strong car demand
GM sets annual sales record after posting best November ever
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SHANGHAI -- General Motors Co. and its joint ventures sold 260,018 vehicles in China in November, up 10 percent year-on-year, GM said in a statement today.
It was GM's best November ever and second-best month all-time in China, its largest market.
The automaker, with a month left in the year, said it set a new annual sales record in China, delivering 2,593,642 vehicles in the first 11 months versus 2,547,171 vehicles for all of 2011. By comparison, GM sold 2,349,984 vehicles in the U.S. during the same period.
The growth in China was propelled by strong sales of Buick and Chevrolet cars, according to the company.
Buick sales in November rose 17 percent, Chevrolet sales grew 15 percent and Cadillac sales increased 8 percent. Shanghai General Motors Co., a joint venture between GM and SAIC Motor Corp., makes and sells those brands.
Ford's efforts
Ford Motor Co. sold 67,505 vehicles in China in November, up 56 percent from the year-earlier period, according to information released by Ford China.
The strong sales growth was led by robust demand for Ford-brand passenger vehicles. Last month, sales of locally built Focus, Mondeo, Fiesta, S-Max and the imported Ford Edge surged 74 percent year-on-year to 51,602 units.
For the first 11 months of this year, sales of Ford and its two China ventures increased 18 percent, said Ford China, without disclosing unit sales figures.
The Ford Focus, Mondeo, Fiesta, S-Max models are built by Changan Ford Automobile Co., a joint venture between Ford and Changan Automobile Co.
Sales of Jiangling Motors Corp., Ford's commercial vehicle joint venture with Jiangling Motors Group Co., rose 16 percent in November to 15,903 units.
Jiangling builds the Ford Transit van as well as its Jiangling-badged SUV, pickups and light trucks.
Last week, with the approval of the Chinese government, Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co., a three-way joint venture among Changan, Ford and Mazda Motor Corp., was split into two separate joint ventures.
The new ventures are Changan Ford and Changan Mazda Automobile Co.
More on GM
While GM's Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac brands did well, sales of GM's low-priced Wuling microvans were sluggish, dropping 1 percent year-on-year to 108,304 units in November.
SAIC-GM-Wuling, a joint venture among GM, SAIC and the Liuzhou government in southwest China's Guangxi region, is China's leading producer of microvans.
Although microvan sales were slow, the partnership's Baojun brand -- which produces entry-level passenger cars -- did well. November sales of Baojun cars jumped 70 percent from a year earlier to 10,232 units.
