(January 4, 2010) SHANGHAI — GM and its joint ventures in China announced today that their domestic sales jumped 66.9 percent in 2009 to a record 1,826,424 units.  Based on bullish sales of Buick, Chevrolet and Wuling vehicles, the GM China family achieved an estimated market share of 13.4 percent, another year-end record and an improvement of 1.3 percentage points from the end of 2008.

The strong year-end results were possible in part because of record December sales by GM’s Shanghai GM and SAIC-GM-Wuling joint ventures and the addition of sales from its new FAW-GM joint venture.
Detroit-based GM and other global automakers are looking to China's fast-growing market to drive sales amid slack demand elsewhere. Chinese auto purchases surpassed those in the United States for all but two of the first 11 months of the year. Total sales for December are yet to be released.

GM said its own China sales in December soared 96.6 percent from a year earlier to a new monthly high of 189,793 vehicles.

"Despite the sales records in 2009, it looks as if 2010 will be even stronger. The industry outlook is strong and we expect more growth, albeit on a somewhat slower pace," GM China president Kevin Wale said in a statement.

Beijing has helped to boost auto sales with tax cuts and subsidies for drivers to shift to cleaner, more fuel-efficient cars. Most of that aid has gone to Chinese makers of smaller cars, though foreign producers also see sales rising.

GM and other automakers are looking to first-time buyers in smaller Chinese cities to help drive sales as incomes outside the country's prosperous east coast rise.