(March 6, 2012) SHANGHAI — General Motors and its joint ventures sold 240,554 cars and trucks in China in February, setting a record for the month. Sales rose 30.4 percent from February 2011 and were the third highest for any month in GM’s history in China.

All three of GM’s primary manufacturing joint ventures set February records as well. Shanghai GM’s domestic sales rose 31.8 percent year on year to 103,097 units; SAIC-GM-Wuling’s sales in China increased 28.7 percent on an annual basis to 130,193 units, and FAW-GM’s sales in the domestic market were up 39.2 percent year on year to 7,068 units.

Buick sales rose 31.1 percent on an annual basis to 52,773 units, a record for the month. Leading the way for the brand once again was the Excelle family, which registered a jump in demand of 70.7 percent from February 2011 to 23,564 units. It was followed by the Excelle XT and GT, which had sales growth of 70.3 percent to 11,890 units.

Chevrolet sales in China rose 23.7 percent on an annual basis to an all-time February high of 52,407 units. Sales of the Cruze increased 36.1 percent from the same month in 2011 to 20,662 units. New Sail sales rose 34.1 percent on an annual basis to 14,184 units. The Malibu, which launched on Feb. 15, got off to a solid start with sales of 3,333 units.

Sales of the Cadillac brand were up 6.6 percent year on year to 2,124 units – a record for the luxury brand in February. It was led by the popular SRX luxury utility vehicle, which had sales of 1,527 units.

Benefiting from Sunshine minivan sales of 50,950 units, the Wuling brand sold 117,969 units in China. This represented an increase of 24.5 percent from the second month of 2011 and was an all-time February high. The Baojun brand had sales of 8,017 units in its first February in the market.

In the first two months of 2012, GM and its joint ventures sold a record 487,208 cars and trucks in China, an increase of 7.7 percent from the same period last year.