(April 10, 2011) SHANGHAI — General Motors and its joint ventures in China set new domestic sales records for March and the first quarter of the year.

GM sales in China during March totaled 233,014 units. This took its first quarter sales to 685,583 units, which was up 10 percent from a strong first quarter in 2010 and ahead of estimated industry sales growth.

GM’s flagship joint venture, Shanghai GM, sold 99,589 vehicles in China in March, an increase of 14.5 percent year on year and a record for the month. SAIC-GM-Wuling, GM’s mini-commercial vehicle joint venture, registered domestic sales of 125,247 vehicles in March. FAW-GM, GM’s light duty truck joint venture, generated domestic sales of 8,161 vehicles for the month.

“GM had a good month and a solid start to the year despite the expiration of government incentives at the beginning of 2011 and the consequences of the tragic earthquake and tsunami in Japan,” said Kevin Wale, president and managing director of the GM China Group. “Due to hard work and a comprehensive global supply chain, GM and our joint ventures in China were able to overcome the challenges.”

Domestic sales of Buick products in March rose 15.8 percent on an annual basis to 55,025 units. It was led by the Excelle lower-medium passenger car family, whose sales jumped 32.2 percent to 30,708 units.

With demand for the Sail small car family in China more than doubling to 12,920 units and demand for the Cruze lower-medium sedan reaching 17,348 units, domestic sales of the Chevrolet brand were up 6.7 percent year over year to 49,234 units. Cadillac luxury vehicle sales in March increased 43.7 percent on an annual basis to 2,030 units, as sales of the SRX luxury utility vehicle totaled 1,222 units.