Toyota tops GM in China Jan-Sept car sales

Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp.'s China car sales beat General Motors Corp.'s in the first nine months of the year, as the Japanese company threatens to end GM's 77-year reign as the world's largest automaker.

Toyota's two Chinese ventures boosted nine-month sales 30 percent to 407,427 cars and sport-utility vehicles. GM's car sales were little changed at 373,945, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data issued by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The Japanese automaker boosted sales of Corollas and other models at about triple the pace of the overall market after opening a new plant last year. Detroit-based GM is counting on overseas growth as the credit crunch has driven U.S. sales down 18 percent this year and the company's shares to a 58-year low.

"China is very important to GM and losing share there makes life even more difficult," said Ricon Xia, an analyst at Daiwa Associate Holdings Ltd. in Shanghai. "Japanese automakers know how to make cars for Chinese consumers and they have been expanding in China at a very steady pace."

GM sold 1.03 million vehicles in China last year, about 11 percent of its global total. The company is the biggest overseas automaker in the country in terms of overall sales, as it also makes vans. Total nine-month sales at its Chinese ventures rose 9.3 percent to 785,144, according to Bloomberg calculations.

Losses, Shares

GM has lost about $70 billion in the last three and a half years, forcing it to shut plants and cut jobs in its home market. Dwindling U.S. demand may push industrywide sales next year to the lowest since 1991.

GM's loss of market share in China, where it has ranked second among overseas carmakers for a decade, along with slumping U.S. demand may cost it the global sales crown. Last year, it beat Toyota by 3,100 vehicles worldwide.

Sales at Shanghai General Motors Co., GM's biggest Chinese car venture, have dropped for two straight months in line with the first declines in industrywide sales in three years. Vehicle sales fell in August and September because of a slumping stock market, slowing economic growth and traffic controls put in place to curb pollution during the Beijing Olympics.

"The economic situation has an impact on" demand for cars and other expensive items, David S. Chen, vice president of GM China Group, said in an interview yesterday. "Competitors are also becoming stronger and stronger, and all these factors contributed to the decline in our sales over the past two months."

China Market

Overall China car sales rose 11 percent in the first nine months to 5.1 million. Volkswagen AG, the biggest overseas carmaker in China, boosted sales at its two ventures in the country 11 percent to 753,450, according to the automakers' group.

Japanese automakers had 31 percent of China's car market in the first nine months after boosting sales 22 percent from a year earlier to 1.16 million units, according to Bloomberg News calculations based on data from the auto group. Japanese companies had the biggest share of the market among all foreign automakers producing cars in the country.

Combined sales of U.S. automakers rose 1.2 percent to 477,121 units during the period. German carmakers boosted sales of locally made cars by 12 percent to 779,803 units.

Globally, Toyota was ahead of GM at the end of the first half, having sold 2.41 million vehicles to its rival's 2.29 million. GM also trailed at the end of the first half last year before surpassing Toyota in the second six months.

Toyota opened a 3.6 billion yuan ($527 million) plant in Tianjin, northern China in May last year, almost doubling the capacity at its venture with China FAW Group Corp. to 420,000 vehicles a year. The Toyota City-based carmaker will also add a second line at its venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. in southern China's Guangzhou next year.