GM China October sales up 19.6% on soaring demand

General Motors Co., the biggest overseas automaker in China, said sales increased 19.6 percent in the country in October as it sold more Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac cars.

GM and its Chinese joint ventures sold 199,641 units last month, it said in an e-mailed statement today, compared with about 166,900 in October 2009. The company is on course to sell two million vehicles this year in the world’s largest auto market, Detroit-based GM said.

The pace of sales growth accelerated from the 15 percent reported for September, which was the slowest rate in at least 18 months as the effect of government stimulus measures wore off. Chinese dealers have stepped up incentives to lure customers and the government offered subsidies for buyers of energy-efficient models.

GM, which is preparing for an initial public offering that may raise as much as $10.6 billion, makes the Buick Excelle and Chevrolet Cruze in China with its partner SAIC Motor Co. GM’s passenger-car venture with SAIC sold 100,833 units last month, according to the statement.

The Detroit-based company also makes Sunshine minivans at SAIC-GM-Wuling Automotive Co., a venture in which the U.S. automaker has a 34 percent stake. SAIC-GM-Wuling sold 93,935 vehicles in China in October, 5.1 percent more than in the same period a year earlier, GM said today.

In the first 10 months this year, GM’s China sales jumped 35.5 percent to 1,976,913 units, according to the statement.