GM Executive Vice President and GM China President Matt Tsien reported that the company's sales were up 11.2% in June.
General Motors continued to expand sales across China in the ongoing contest for position atop the world’s largest market for new vehicles.
GM and its joint ventures reported record June deliveries in China of 273,563 units, which was up 11.2% on an annual basis. The Buick, Cadillac and Baojun brands had their best June ever.
Its strong performance in June enabled GM to set a first half record for deliveries in China. Demand was up 5.3% from the first six months of 2015 to 1.81 million units.
By way of comparison, GM sold 1.44 million cars in the U.S. where sales dropped 4.4% during the first half of 2016. The company remains the largest carmaker in the U.S., but the new figures underscore the importance of the Chinese market to GM.
“Sales of the Cadillac luxury brand and Buick have remained strong throughout 2016,” said GM Executive Vice President and GM China President Matt Tsien. “We have also seen very high demand for our Baojun entry-level passenger car brand and a return to growth for the Wuling brand.”
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Cadillac deliveries in June jumped 34% on an annual basis to 9,552 units. Demand for the ATS-L and XTS luxury sedans and XT5 luxury crossover all surpassed 2,000 units last month.
Buick deliveries were up 10% year over year to 86,054 units in June. Demand for the Excelle GT sedan remained strong, exceeding 26,000 units. Demand for the brand’s best-selling SUV, the Envision, increased 27% to more than 14,000 units.
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Baojun deliveries more than doubled to 43,249 units in June from a year earlier. Deliveries of both of its best-selling models, the Baojun 730 MPV and Baojun 560 SUV, exceeded 20,000 units.
Wuling deliveries rose 8.1% to 99,017 units from the previous June. The Hong Guang MPV family remains popular, with demand surpassing 30,000 units last month while demand for the Rong Guang V minivan was up 20%.
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Chevrolet deliveries were down 25% year over year in June to 35,648 units. The Malibu XL, Chevrolet’s new flagship sedan launched in February, increased its momentum as it posted a 46% month-over-month increase.