Major car makers see February sales jump
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General Motors yesterday said its February vehicle sales in China rose 51 percent from a year earlier, while Ford and Toyota also reported double-digit growth, even as momentum eased from the previous month.
The 174,306 vehicles sold by GM and its joint ventures in China in February were a company record for the month, it said yesterday, though well below the 219,192 vehicles sold in January.
That could reflect slower sales due to the Spring Festival holiday in a traditionally slow month, but also a softening in demand for small cars that have powered the company's growth in China over the past year.
"Our February sales numbers exceeded our expectations despite the Spring Festival holiday," Kevin Wale, president and managing director for GM China Group, said in a statement.
Ford Motor Co's joint venture in China, Changan Ford Sales Co, reported sales climbed 37.5 percent in February to 18,193 Ford brand passenger vehicles. That compared with 30,759 sold in January.
Sales of Toyota-brand vehicles rose 30 percent from the year before to 45,000 units, said company spokesman Niu Yu. That also was down sharply from 72,000 vehicles sold in January.
The bulk of GM's sales were still by SAIC-GM-Wuling, its mini-vehicle joint venture, which sold 110,315 units, up 37.7 percent from the year before, the company said.
Sales by GM's flagship in China, Shanghai GM, climbed 65.7 percent to 58,182 units, with demand for Chevrolet models accounting for more than 40,000 of that total. Sales of Cadillacs tripled to more than 900 units.
GM's sales in China climbed nearly 74 percent from a year earlier in the first two months of the year, to 393,498 units.
Auto makers are looking to China to offset weak demand in traditional markets and to drive future growth. Last year, China overtook the United States as the biggest auto market with a 48 percent jump in sales, helped by government tax breaks and subsidies meant to encourage purchases of energy efficient, small vehicles.
Analysts expect sales growth to slow somewhat this year, though so far the market has kept relatively strong momentum. China's official auto sales figures are due for release next week.
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