GM China And Partners Set New Annual Sales Record In November 2012

Even though there’s still a month remaining until 2013, General Motors and its Chinese joint venture partners manage to reset their annual sales record in China, already recording 2,593,642 sales in 11 months — a growth of 10.4 percent. 260,018 of those sales came from November alone, a rise of 9.7 percent over last year.

Divided up, Shanghai GM’s domestic annual sales grew 8.7 percent to 1,220,887 units, SAIC-GM-Wuling’s domestic sales grew 12.5 percent to 1,318,473 units, and FAW-GM’s domestic sales decreased 1.0 percent to 50,345 units.

Shanghai GM’s performance led to an all-time monthly record of 136,444 vehicles in China last month, a 20.6 percent year over year growth. But SAIC-GM-Wuling’s domestic sales were down 0.5 percent on an annual basis to 118,536 units. Thirdly, FAW-GM’s sales in China rose 4.2 percent from the same month last year to 4,837 units.

With brand sales broken down for Shanghai GM, Buick performed above all other brands, as sales increased 17.4 percent year on year to a November record a lofty 70,172 units. Demand for the original Excelle family totaled 23,381 units. It was followed by the Excelle XT and GT, which sold 17,716 units – an increase of 16.1 percent from November 2011 and the models’ second-highest sales for any month. Setting a monthly record was the Regal, which sold 9,204 units – an increase of 12.4 percent on an annual basis. The Encore SUV got off to a strong start, with 6,025 units sold in its first month on the market.

Buick wasn’t the only one in the spotlight, as Chevrolet also set a November sales record in China, selling an almost-as-good 63,012 units, up 15.3 percent from last November. It continued to be driven by the frugal Sail, which sold 22,394 units, a 10.6 percent increase year on year, and the Cruze, which had increased sales by 1.6 percent from November 2011 to 22,216 units. Malibu sales totaled 7,697 units in the midsize sedan’s first November being offered in China.

While still dwarfed by the popularity of Chevy and Buick, Cadillac also set an all-time monthly sales record in China of 3,260 units, an increase of 8.4 percent on an annual basis. Leading the way in November were the SRX, with sales of 2,082 units, and the long SLS sedan, which had record monthly sales of 1,029 units.

Contributing to the numbers game was Wuling: despite sales being down 0.5 percent year on year to 108,304 units in November, it continued to be led by the Sunshine, which recorded sales of 40,420 units. Lastly, Baojun’s November sales jumped 70.0 percent on an annual basis to 10,232 units, the brand’s second-highest monthly total ever. Its most popular model was the 630, which sold 6,429 units – an increase of 6.8 percent from last November.