A Cadillac sign is seen on a car outside a dealership in Beijing, Oct. 31, 2012. GM said Friday Cadillac brand sales have jumped 63 percent, to 52,425 units. Chinese consumers are gravitating toward the XTS full-size sedan and SRX midsize crossover.Reuters/Petar Kujundzic
General Motors is expanding sales in China due to strong demand for the new-generation Chevrolet Cruze and for Buicks. The pace of new-car sales for other foreign automakers in the world’s largest economy, however, has slowed compared with GM's acceleration.
The Detroit automaker said Friday that its joint ventures in China had their second-best month of the year in September with 15 percent overall growth in GM deliveries to 319,936 vehicles. The company and its local partners are approaching 2.6 million sales for the year so far, a 12 percent increase compared with the same period a year ago.
Here’s the rundown:
Chevrolet sales are up 7 percent in the first nine months of 2014 vs. the same period last year, to 505,316 vehicles. Chinese buyers flocked last month to the new-generation Cruze midsize sedan that went on the market in August, pushing up Chevrolet sales by 18 percent in September. The Cruze makes up over a third of all Chevrolet sales in China.
Boosted by stronger demand for Buick’s Excelle XT hatchback and Excelle GT sedan, GM’s entry-level luxury marque is up 11 percent so far this year, to 670,999 units.
GM’s luxury Cadillac brand jumped 63 percent ,to 52,425, in the first nine months of 2014, mostly from purchases of the XTS full-size sedan and SRX midsize crossover.
Shanghai-GM, the largest of GM’s local joint ventures, grew sales of all of its brands by 20 percent in September. Shanghai-GM makes Chevrolets, Buicks and Cadillacs in mainland China.
SAIC-GM-Wuling, one of the largest microvan manufacturers in China, grew sales by 15 percent in September. The trilateral joint venture among GM, SAIC and Wuling is a mass producer of Wuling and Baojun brands that use Chevrolet components.
FAW-GM sales plummeted 74 percent. The joint venture between GM and FAW, China’s third-largest auto company, makes light-duty commercial vehicles, the sales of which have dropped in recent months amid the Chinese economic slowdown. In contrast to GM, Nissan Motor on Friday cited sluggish sales of commercial vehicles as one of the main reasons why it reported a 20-percent drop in China sales in September.
