GM China's 2010 first-half sales up 48.5 pct to 1.21 mln

GM China, the Chinese subsidiary of the US car-maker General Motors, said July 2 its 2010 first-half-year sales of vehicles in China increased by 48.5 percent over the same period last year.

Statistics provided by the car-maker showed that it sold a total of 1.21 million vehicles in China from January to June of this year.

June sales of Shanghai GM, GM's joint venture with Chinese auto giant Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, rose 18.9 percent to 71,782 units. SGMW, a joint venture GM set up with SAIC Motor and Liuzhou Wuling Motors, reported sales of 99,115 in June, up 19.7 percent year on year.

Among GM's brands in China, Chevrolet was the top seller in June with sales of 38,304 units, up 43.3 percent from the previous year; Cadillac saw the fastest growth in sales in June, soaring by 171.3 percent to 1,812 units from a year earlier, said GM China.

In January 2010, official figures confirmed that China had overtaken the United States to become the world's top auto maker and market in 2009, boosted by government stimulus measures.