GM Breaks March And Quarterly Sales Records In China

It’s always a fun numbers game to compare the monthly sales figures every month for General Motors between the United States and China. And while Shanghai GM pools its numbers in with its joint venture partners — SAIC, FAW and Wuling — the numbers are always pretty close. And for the first quarter of 2012, GM and its partners broke their previous record, selling 745,152 vehicles from January through March. 257,944 of which were from March 2012 alone. By comparison, 231,052 vehicles were sold by GM in March in the ‘States, and 608,320 through Q1 2012. This is a gain of 10.7 percent for the month of March for GM and friends in China, and an 8.7 quarterly increase overall.

Separately, Shanghai GM alone increased 10.5 percent, selling 110,038 units in March. SAIC-GM-Wuling’s sales in China increased 11.6 percent year on year to 139,768 units. FAW-GM’s domestic sales in March totaled 7,417 units.

Buick continued its success story in the Land of the Dragon, rising 3.7 percent and 57,082 units in March 2012. The brand’s champion continues to be the Excelle (which is not the same as the Verano), increasing 25.4 percent to 24,134 units, while the Excelle XT and GT (which is more or less the Verano) increased 22.7 percent to 14,064 units.

Chevrolet also saw success, rising 11.1 percent year-over-year to record 54,716 units in March. The frugal New Sail was the brand’s best-selling model, rising a massive 55.5 percent to 20,085 units. The Cruze also grew 7.7 percent, selling 18,678 units. What’s more, sales of the Malibu totaled 4,289 units in its first full month on the market.

Additionally, Cadillac sales increased 35.2 percent, and a monthly record of 2,745 units, 2,143 of which belonged to the SRX. It’s not much, but it’s progress.

Lastly, Wuling sales in China were up 9.9 percent on an annual basis to an all-time monthly record 130,251 units. The Baojun brand had sales of 5,012 units in its first March on the market.