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Laura He

General Motors, the biggest foreign car brand in China, sold a record 4 million units in the country last year, up 4.4 per cent in the previous year, as the world’s largest car market now accounts for more than a quarter of new vehicle sales globally.
The figures come soon after the US car giant posted a decrease in its home market last month. The US suffered the first annual drop in car sales since the financial crisis in 2009, amid a decline in demand for compact cars.
Sales from GM and its partners in China reached 4.04 million units last year, with Cadillac, Buick, and its joint venture brand, Baojun, reaching all-time highs, the US carmaker said.
China was GM’s largest retail market for the sixth straight year.
“Consumers’ trust in our brands will help us achieve sustainable and high-quality growth going forward,” said Matt Tsien, executive vice-president and president of GM China, in a statement.
In particular, SUVs and luxury vehicles posted robust performance, with SUV sales surging 37 per cent year on year.
Cadillac sold 175,489 units, Buick 1.18 million and Baojun, the joint venture with SAIC Motor, sold 996,629 units.
China online car sales platform Yixin seeks up to US$870m in Hong Kong share offer
Last month, German carmaker Volkswagen Group said its Volkswagen brand sold more than 3 million in China in 2017, the first time one of the company’s brands has breached that mark in a single market.
Volkswagen also said it plans to sell 1.5 million electric cars in China by 2025, half of its global target.
It came as China’s demand for conventional cars remained strong, as buyers bought more than 25 per cent of the world’s new cars and pickup trucks in 2017, up from 15 per cent a decade ago, according to preliminary data from WardsAuto.com. Global demand for cars and pickup trucks topped 90 million, up 2.7 per cent from the previous year.
However, the car industry in the US suffered the first slowdown in eight years, with sales down 1.8 per cent in 2017 to 17.2 million, according to IHS Markit. The data provider expects US sales to further drop to 16.9 million in 2018.
GM’s sales in the US declined 3.3 per cent year on year in December. Toyota also saw sales drop 8.3 per cent, and Nissan Motor posted a 9.5 per cent drop for the same month. Only Ford Motor recorded a slight 1.3 per cent increase in December sales.



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Car sales

GM car sales speed past a record 4 million in 2017 in China even as it hits a bump in its home market

A Cadillac XT5 SUV is displayed at the Shanghai car show in April last year. The car brand helped GM sell a record 4 million units in China in 2017. Photo: Simon Song

epa05269751 (FILE) A file picture dated 20 April 2015 shows a man taking photos beside the Volkswagen logo at the 16th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in Shanghai, China. According to media reports on 21 April 2016, VW, US officials and private lawyers reached a deal for the car maker to buy back nearly 600,000 diesel cars in the US, which were part of cheating emission tests, and to compensate owners. The car maker had equipped the EA189 Diesel engine with illegal software that lowers nitrogen oxide levels during tests in order to improve performance results. VW is expected to disclose the deal in San Francisco, California, on 21 April 2016, media added. EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG

Driverless GM cars being tested on the streets of Detroit

Downtown Detroit. Photo: Reuters

General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra announces that Chevrolet will begin testing a fleet of Bolt autonomous vehicles in Michigan during a news conference in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., December 15, 2016. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

General Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra speaks to reporters Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016, in Detroit. General Motors has started testing fully autonomous Chevrolet Bolt electric cars on public roads around its technical center in suburban Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

GM China's licence plate texting app raises safety, privacy concerns

John Du (left), director of GM's China Science Lab, says that even if the other driver didn't register the DiDi Plate app, they can still be reached.

GM gets new capacity to tap buoyant China SUV segment

SAIC General Motors’ second production line at Wuhan is expected to have the capacity for 300,000 cars, mainly SUVs, a year. Photo: Reuters

A man walks past a Volkswagen Touran along a busy street in downtown Shanghai March 20, 2013. Volkswagen AG, which sells more cars in China than any other foreign firm, will recall 384,181 vehicles there to fix a long-standing gearbox problem, China's quality watchdog said on Wednesday. REUTERS/Carlos Barria (CHINA - Tags: TRANSPORT BUSINESS SOCIETY)

GM seems wholly unimpressed by chance to wholly own an electric car factory in China

A production line inside a factory of SAIC-GM-Wuling, in Liuzhou, China. Photo: Reuters

A General Motors Co. (GM) Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle (EV) sits parked at a charging station at the General Motors China headquarters in Shanghai, China, on Friday, Sept. 15, 2017. GM plans to have 10 new-energy vehicles -- a category including plug-in hybrids and battery-electric cars -- and annual sales of 150,000 units in China by 2020 across its Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet brands. It's targeting half a million units by 2025. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

GM takes aim at 5 per cent share of market in India within a decade

An GM employee at its factory in India, where the US carmaker hopes to capture 5 per cent of the market within a decade. Photo: Bloomberg 

Business

Companies

China Business

US car sales decline for the first time since 2009, while China’s consumers bought more than a quarter of the world’s cars in 2017


Automotive industry

General Motors