(April 3, 2013) SHANGHAI — General Motors and its joint ventures reached all-time highs for sales in China during March and the first quarter of 2013. Sales in March increased 12.6 percent on an annual basis to 290,538 units. It was the second-highest monthly sales total in GM’s history in China. This helped domestic sales in the first quarter grow to 816,373 units, an increase of 9.6 percent from the same period last year.

Shanghai GM’s domestic sales last month rose 15.2 percent on an annual basis to a March record 126,785 units. SAIC-GM-Wuling’s domestic sales rose 10.9 percent to 155,065 units and FAW-GM’s domestic sales rose 12.8 percent to 8,369 units. Both were all-time monthly records.

Leading the way for Shanghai GM was Buick, which had record March domestic sales of 70,118 units, an increase of 22.8 percent year on year. The brand received a strong performance from its original Excelle family, whose sales rose 23.8 percent to 29,875 units. It was followed by the Excelle XT and GT, whose sales grew 18.4 percent to 16,653 units, and the Regal, which had sales of 8,258 units, on growth of 34.4 percent.

Chevrolet’s domestic sales last month were down 3.1 percent on an annual basis to 53,038 units. Its most popular model was the Sail family, which sold 19,226 units. Demand for the Malibu was up 93.2 percent to an all-time monthly high of 8,287 units.

Cadillac sold a March record 3,629 units in China, as demand rose 32.2 percent year on year. It received a strong boost from the XTS, its newest model, which had sales of 2,006 units in its first full month on the market and was the brand’s most popular product.

Wuling sales in China increased 13.7 percent from last March, hitting a new record for any month of 148,060 units. It was driven by the Hong Guang, which had increased sales of 90.3 percent to 50,032 units. Sales of the Baojun brand rose 39.8 percent year on year to 7,005 units in March.

Between January and March, Shanghai GM sold a record 382,028 units in China, which was up 13.3 percent on an annual basis; SAIC-GM-Wuling sold a record 417,077 units in China, which was up 7.0 percent; and FAW-GM sold 16,529 units in China, which was down 2.3 percent. In addition, GM and its joint ventures exported a first-quarter record 25,483 units, as demand for their products outside China jumped 62.3 percent on an annual basis.