GM, Toyota and Ford post moderate sales gains in China

BEIJING—Three major global auto makers reported moderate August sales gains in China, a day after a state-funded research institute said the country's car-sales growth accelerated sharply last month thanks in part to new government incentives for small fuel-efficient cars.

General Motors Co. said Thursday its sales in the country rose 19% in August from a year earlier to 181,625 vehicles. During the first eight months of this year GM sold 1.57 million vehicles in China, the U.S.-based company said in a written statement, without giving the growth rate.

Toyota Motor Corp. and its local Chinese joint ventures sold 77,200 vehicles in China last month, up 16% from a year earlier. Japan-based Toyota's overall sales in the January-August period rose 22% to 503,800 vehicles. And August sales by U.S.-based Ford Motor Co. and its joint ventures in China, including Changan Ford Mazda Automobile and Jiangling Motors Corp., totaled 44,047 vehicles, up 24%. They sold 368,103 vehicles during the year's first eight months, up 42%.

Car-sales growth in China has been slowing recently from its torrid pace in mid-2009, and analysts have widely expected the slowdown to continue. But state media on Wednesday reported that overall automobile sales in August rose nearly 56% from a year earlier to 1.21 million vehicles. The reports cited data from the China Automotive Technology and Research Center, or Catarc, a state-funded research and policy-advisory institute.

It wasn't immediately clear why the average growth figure from Catarc was so much higher than those of the three big foreign companies. Officials at Catarc couldn't be reached for comment. Additional auto makers are expected to report their China sales results for August in coming days.

Executives at Toyota and Ford pointed out that August is normally a slow sales month, and described their companies' growth rates as relatively positive.

When auto sales began to slow down in June, dealers began offering more discounts and incentives to spur sales. But that, combined with a negative outlook for auto sales for the rest of the year in China, "caused some consumers to delay their purchases and wait for even more discounts," said Hitoshi Yokoyama, a Beijing-based Toyota spokesman.

"When they saw discounts and other sales incentives started bottoming out in early August, some consumers came back to the marketplace," Mr. Yokoyama said, explaining the relative strength in Toyota's vehicle sales last month.

Meanwhile, a senior Ford executive told The Wall Street Journal Thursday that the U.S. auto maker expects 70% of its global growth this decade to come from the Asian-Pacific region and Africa.

"China and India will be the biggest contributors" to the growth Ford is anticipating for the regions, said Joe Hinrichs, head of Ford's Asian-Pacific and African operations, in a telephone interview. He declined to elaborate.

In August, Ford's sales in the Asian-Pacific region and Africa rose 32% from a year earlier to about 66,000 vehicles, Mr. Hinrichs said. In the first eight months of this year, Ford's sales in those regions totaled 572,000 vehicles, up 42% from a year earlier.

Among other expansion moves, Ford and its partners have two vehicle-assembly plants under construction in China and one in Thailand. The company is also building an engine plant in South Africa.

Ford's Asian-Pacific and African markets span three continents: Australia, Asia and Africa. Vehicle sales in those markets are projected to increase to 35 million vehicles by 2018, from 16 million vehicles in 2009, Ford said.