GM sees China sales flat for 9 months

General Motors Corp said on Friday that it expected its sales in China to be flat for the next nine months, but is optimistic about long-term growth as it is set to introduce five new cars in the Asian country next year.

"For China, we're expecting a relatively flat market -- so no up no down -- for probably another six to nine months maximum, and then back to the more natural growth that we see longer term of 10 to 15 percent," Nick Reilly, GM's Asia Pacific president, told Reuters at a meeting of leaders from 21 Pacific Rim economies at the APEC summit in Lima.

"The growth is probably going to be somewhere around 10 percent for the industry, and I would hope we can grow a little bit more than that with those new entries," he said.