Car maker aims for sales of 1 million vehicles

 GENERAL Motors Corp expects to see less aggressive sales projection of 1 million units in China this year, the company said yesterday.

The auto maker also plans to launch up to 10 new or upgraded models on the Chinese mainland.

But the auto maker attributed a less ambitious sales projection compared with last year to more intense competition from domestic and global manufacturers.

The Detroit-based car maker sold 32 percent more cars last year in China at 876,747 units compared to a year ago. The rise also outpaced the averaged industrial growth of 25 percent year on year.

"We estimated that the overall Chinese car market will cool to 10 to 15 percent this year and we always hope we could grow a little bit faster than the average," Kevin E. Wale, president and managing director of General Motors China Ltd, said earlier.

GM cooperates with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp in China, rolling out a complete product range including Buick sedans, Chevrolet-branded economy cars, Cadillac premier models as well as SAIC-GM-Wuling mini-vehicles.

In January, GM sold a total of 101,926 vehicles to accelerate past the 100,000-unit milestone for the first time in a single month.

China's passenger car sales rose 31 percent in January from a year earlier, the fastest growth in nine months after auto makers launched more models and cut prices to win new customers.

Prices cut

Shanghai GM in January cut the prices of its Chevrolet Lova and Aveo compact cars by as much as 10 percent, ranging from 8,000 yuan to 9,900 yuan, to boost sales.

But D. Nick Reilly, president of GM Asia Pacific, said GM makes healthy profit in China as its incentives estimated at between US$200 and US$300 per car were lower than the thousands of dollars offered on a car in the United States, according to Bloomberg News yesterday.

Vehicle sales in the world's second largest auto market rebounded over the past one and a half years as the nation's double-digit economic growth helped to create market demand.