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GM sees August sales spike of 112 percent in China

09/02/2009, 1:53 PM

By Drew Johnson

General Motors’ U.S. sales may have plummeted 20 percent last month, but the Detroit automaker saw strong demand for its vehicles in China during the month of August. GM’s China sales climbed 112.7 percent last month, boosting the automaker’s yearly forecast.

According to Automotive News, GM’s China sales saw a massive 112.7 percent increase in August, totaling 152,365 units. That brings GM’s eight month China sales total to 1.11 million vehicles, up 49.6 percent from the same period last year.

“We are now looking at a market of 11.5 to 12 million vehicles, up from 9.1 million units last year,” Kevin Wale, president and managing director for GM’s China operations, said of China’s new car market. “We expect GM sales for the year as a whole to rise by more than 40 percent from 2008.”

As with several other global markets, government incentives have spurred new car sales in China. China overtook the U.S. as the world’s largest car market in January.

GM plans to rollout 30 new products for the China market over the next four years, ensuring it won’t lose its grip on what is becoming the most important market in the world.

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09/02, 1:57 PM

posted by:

elviososa

no so surprising….

09/02, 2:04 PM

posted by:

ChuckTown86

By any chance will the US see any of those 30 new products. About ensuring it won’t lose its grip on the US market. We are still important too.

09/02, 2:06 PM

posted by:

ChuckTown86

By any chance will the US see any of those 30 new products? How about ensuring it won’t lose its grip on the US market. We are still important too.

09/02, 2:09 PM

posted by:

GMasaurus

And I’ll bet that GM would love to get every last one of those 11.5M to 12M sales. Now that’s some nice coin….or yen…or whatever the Chinese currency is.

09/02, 2:12 PM

posted by:

JSi

yeah when it comes to the automotive industry, the chinese are much better at buying cars than making them… they should stick to that…

09/02, 2:21 PM

posted by:

whinelikeaturbine

Stupid stupid americans!!! just be glad a ‘poor’ , ‘underdeveloped country’ are even buying your junk…..ungrateful yanks….just go and design another 10.9l V8 giving an impressive 0.2 mpg and pat yourselves in the back saying ‘We can make fuel efficient engines!!”

09/02, 2:27 PM

posted by:

Cardemon04

GMasaurus: Chinese currency is Renimbi.

whinelikeaturbine: where do you get your information??? I suppose all your countries cars run on shattered hopes and dreams, and the exhaust is puppies and rainbows.

this is great news for GM. However, not so great news for us. this just highlights how weak our economy has become. :-(

09/02, 2:27 PM

posted by:

05Z88Path

^^WTF whiny? The irony in all this too funny. Monetarily speaking, US Gov owns GM; China Gov owns US Gov; Chinese people own brand spanking new GM vehicles…

09/02, 2:34 PM

posted by:

05Z88Path

*is

(and yes I know I’m stretching things quite a bit…but the connections are still there!)

09/02, 2:39 PM

posted by:

johnnycanuck

I want to know how many of those were Buicks because if they’re running short I say we send them some of ours. Or better yet, all of ours.

09/02, 2:54 PM

posted by:

leftwingagenda

lol @ whiny, here’s a link that might help your current condition: http://www.vagisil.com/

it’s news like this that reaffirms why the gm restructuring has a decent chance of success…sure, there’s a long road ahead, but if gm is having success today in the largest market on the planet, that’s something to build off of…it’s certainly not set in stone that the US taxpayers will get their money back any time soon, but numbers like these poke a hole in all the doom and gloom bitching you read in comments here…

09/02, 3:25 PM

posted by:

idrinorbarsaku

how asians buy american when they live in asia, but buy asian when they come to live in the US?? I say we should stuff them with buicks till they explode!! Let them buy it all for all I care, they’re only helping us!!!

09/02, 3:26 PM

posted by:

JakeK66

JohnnyC, this is your answer to why they sell Buicks, in the USA at least, over Pontiac and Oldsmobile. It’s not about the brand being an asset, here, it’s all china. China thinks of Buick as American and they think they are getting an American dream with the purchase. If Buick wasn’t in America, it would hurt the Chinese sales! It’s so messed up. Another thing is that they can jointly develop Buicks for both sides and not even worry about badge engineering.

I don’t like it any more than you do, but we just have to live with it. I actually really like the LaCrosse and Enclave, and the Regal will be the best midsize ever from GM. It’s gonna take some time to comprehend Buick as not for people on respirators, and that’s hard. Oh why couldn’t the Chinese just have liked Pontiac or Oldsmobile?

09/02, 3:47 PM

posted by:

johnnycanuck

I know Jake. I just wish they would come right out and admit it. To call it a core brand here is nothing more than a blatant lie.

09/02, 3:53 PM

posted by:

SomeGreek

Gm’s cheap engineering worked out well for them, at last.

09/02, 3:54 PM

posted by:

SomeGreek

Still i’m a little worried about what will be the result for the European market. If everyone (Us and China) buy cheap cars then aventually all cars will end up being cheap. That would be gross.

09/02, 4:17 PM

posted by:

ChuckTown86

^^Some: Do not worry. We may not agree with GM’s decisions (killing Pontiac) at this point. It is also no lie that the cars they feed to Europe and Asia are better than the cars they feed us and are not cheap. Frankly, we let it happen, but Americans is not putting up with GM’s tired old BS and they are realizing that. As of late GM as shown that they can make good cars for the US without being hampered by the persona of cheapness: Malibu, CTS, Camaro, LaCrosse, and now the Equinox. So, all we can do now is watch GM’s plans unfold.

09/02, 4:49 PM

posted by:

Borat

They do so well in China, why not move entire company there? That will save us another 50-100 billions Government Motors will cost us before selling itself in pieces to very same Chinese. They can’t produce and sell market competitive cars here. Whatever is sold cost more to produce. There will be another bankruptcy in future or a sellout. Chinese bought Hummer, sell them beloved Buick. Maybe Daewoo too!

09/02, 9:43 PM

posted by:

Architect

Borat – that is a ridiculous post. GM is not moving to China, and China is not taking over the world…they have and will become a very powerful state, but the US isn’t going away. I swear, you guys must be the most gullible folks on the planet, buying the sensationalism and feeding the hype.

09/02, 10:00 PM

posted by:

bauer100

i wouldnt take much, no none, of the comments here seriously.

09/03, 3:33 AM

posted by:

A4

actually whinelikeaturbine, our 6.2 pushrod V8 in the Corvette gets better mileage than oh, say, a 4.0 V8 in an M3. And a hybrid fusion looks better and gets significantly better mileage than a hybrid camry. so yeah, i’d say overall we make some pretty fuel efficient cars.

09/03, 10:15 AM

posted by:

Cardemon04

has borat always been this incoherent?

I dont understand all the pessimism… GM(a company from the good ol’ USA) is doing well abroad, and the majority of you have only negative things to say. You really have no reason at all to be so negative about them doing well over there. Them doing well means they recover and are able to pay back some or all of the money they’ve borrowed, which is good for the people of THIS country. So cheer up!!

09/03, 11:00 AM

posted by:

ricky_b

This dynamic is just weird.

09/03, 11:40 AM

posted by:

Need4SSpeed

lol anything Borat posts is a ridiculous post…. Which is why I simply skip over his posts.

The reason for all the pessimism Cardemon04 is because 75% of people commenting on here are import-humpers and fault the domestic automakers for their mistakes in the past and refuse to see the domestics for what they are now. I’ve been on here since 2007, and I stopped commenting for a good year because as soon as you tried defending the domestics you got attacked from every angle.

And I currently own a used Acura so no-one can say I’m a domestic lover, or what not.

But yeah it’s F*cked up GM calls Buick one of its core brands, when they offer 3 vehicles in the U.S. It was just to keep the brand around for China.

Although Buick’s latest offerings seem to be very appealing.

But good for GM, and hopefully things in their home market can start turning around.

 
 
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