GM Oct China vehicle sales more than double year ago

(chinatrucks.com, Nov. 18, 2009)General Motors Co GM.UL said on Monday its China vehicle sales in October more than doubled from a year earlier, continuing a string of monthly sales records since the start of the year due to Beijing's stimulus policies.

General Motors, which competes with Volkswagen AG (VOWG.DE) and others, sold 166,911 vehicles in China last month, it said in a statement.

Sales of the Detroit automaker and its joint ventures came to 1.46 million units from January to October and exceeded 1.5 million units as of Monday, it said.

China's auto market has been a major bright spot this year thanks to a raft of government incentives, including aggressive cuts in sales taxes on small cars, which will expire by the end of the year.

Kevin Wale, president and managing director for GM's China operations, said last month the U.S. automaker aims to grow faster than the overall market next year as he believed Beijing will come up with additional steps to support the industry.

Shanghai GM, its flagship car venture with SAIC Motor Corp (600104.SS), sold 68,505 vehicles in October, up 109.7 percent from a year earlier, with sales in the first 10 months up 46.5 percent to 548,707 units, it said.

SAIC-GM-Wuling, GM's commercial vehicle tie-up with SAIC and Liuzhou Wuling Automobile, sold 89,416 vehicles in the country last month, up 78.5 percent. Sales were up 65.9 percent in the first 10 months at 891,285 units.

FAW-GM Light Duty Commercial Vehicle Co, a tie-up with FAW Group set up in August, sold 8,687 light trucks and vans in October.

GM has said it planned to roll out 30 new or revamped models in China from 2009 to 2014, including 10 Buick and Chevrolet models due for launch this year and next.

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