SAIC-GM-Wuling leads China PV makers in Jan sales

Shanghai, February 21 (Gasgoo.com) Last month, China's passenger vehicle sales hit a record 1.3 million units, and SAIC-GM-Wuling took the lead among Chinese PV producers by selling 119,969 minivans, up 59.6% year on year, Xinhua News reported on Friday.

The government's tax cuts and subsidies for small vehicle purchases were a boon to SAIC-GM-Wuling, GM's mini-vehicle joint venture in China. GM China sold 219,192 vehicles in January, up 97% y/y. It was the first time monthly sales have surpassed 200,000 units.

In 2009, SAIC-GM-Wuling became the first auto producer in China to sell more than 1 million vehicles in a year, increasing its domestic sales by 63.9% to 1,061,213 units. With sales of 596,630 units, the Wuling Sunshine set a Chinese industry record for annual sales by a single model.

Sales in China by GM and its local partners rose 67% to a record 1.83 million vehicles last year when China's total vehicle sales soared 45% to an estimated 13.6 million, overtaking the U.S. as the world's biggest auto market.

At the recent launch of its new Wuling SunShine, a top executive of SAIC-GM-Wuling revealed that the hot-selling Wuling minivans would likely enter India first after SAIC became a major shareholder of GM's Indian unit.

GM expects to sell more than two million vehicles in China in 2010, up at least 13%, with more than half of the sales volume to be achieved by the three-way venture SAIC-GM-Wuling, in which GM holds 34% share.