General Motors China is on track to pass 3m sales for the second consecutive year and expects to top last year’s record sales of 3.16m, president Matt Tsien told a media gathering in Shanghai.
He said 2014 had been another record year for GM in China, the automaker’s largest market since 2010.
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Cumulative sales in have just reached 20m.
“We sold our two millionth vehicle this year on 6 August. That’s the earliest we have ever reached this milestone,” Tsien said.
“Through the end of August we sold 2.2 million vehicles, an increase of 11.1% from the same period last year. We’re encouraged with that increase, especially considering the 8.1% drop in industry sales of commercial vehicles.
“Our market share is running at 14.7%, which is up two-tenths of a percentage point on an annual basis. “
He said some of the newest models were “surpassing our expectations”. GM China was seeing particularly strong demand for the Cadillac XTS, with sales up 89% to 19,947 units year to date to the end of August, and the Buick GL8 minivan (+22% to 57,390).
“The GL8 continues to be a strong seller in China, despite having been on the market for about 15 years,” Tsien said.
Sales of small SUVs (Trax, Encore and Captiva) were up 71% with the Encore alone up 56% to 55,664 units.
“The increasing demand for small SUVs has made Encore a popular choice for many,” Tsien said.
GM China sold over 12,000 Baojun 730 MPVs in its first month on the market and over 30,000 orders have been taken.
Sales of the Hong Guang MPV were up 68% to 483,159 units, making the model the best-selling single nameplate model in China, accounting for a quarter of all MPV sales in China.
Brand wise, Cadillac sales were up 64%, Buick up 10%, Chevrolet up 5% and Wuling up 15% to the end of August.
