General Motors and its joint ventures sold 258,484 vehicles in China in April 2015, down 0.4 percent from April 2014.
To note, April 2015 is the first month that GM is reporting actual retail deliveries rather than wholesales in China, so the numbers will naturally show a decline on a year-over-year basis.
Shanghai GM
Domestic sales at Shanghai GM — The General’s primary joint venture in China responsible for Chevrolet, Buick, and Cadillac vehicle sales — slipped 6.7 percent year-over-year to 119,032 units. Sales of Buick and Chevy were down, while Cadillac was up.
Buick
Buick sales in China fell 8.5 percent on an annual basis in April to 63,307 units.
Buick China sales continued to be led by the Excelle XT and Excelle GT, which sold 14,421 units. The original Excelle followed with 11,547 sales. Buick’s trio of crossovers — the Envision, Enclave, and Encore — performed rather well, growing a cumulative 134.3 percent to 15,322 units.
Chevrolet
Chevrolet sales in China fell 5.6 percent on an annual basis to 49,528 units.
Chevrolet China sales were led by Cruze, which sold 19,836 units, followed by the Sail, which sold 12,974 units, and the Malibu, whose sales totaled 8,731 units.
Cadillac
Cadillac sales in China rose 4.6 percent on an annual basis to 6,197 units.
Cadillac China sales were led by ATS and ATS-L, which together accounted for 2,364 units. They were followed by the SRX, which sold 1,891 units, and the XTS, which sold 1,863 units.
SAIC-GM-Wuling
Domestic sales at SAIC-GM-Wuling were up 10.2 percent year-over-year to 139,041 units.
Wuling
Wuling sales across China dropped 5.1 percent year-over-year to 114,740 units. The Hong Guang family continued to lead the brand, growing 3.2 percent to 53,568 units.
Baojun
Baojun sales in April grew 365.8 percent year-over-year to 24,301 units. The Baojun 730 MPV continued to be the most popular vehicle, making up 88 percent of Baojun sales.
Comments
Government-owned Shanghai GM owns 51% of the joint venture, yes?
So GM is only 49% accountable for the sales drop.
But, it doesn’t seem that, looking at China as the panacea for GM’s problems is the answer, at least in the near-term.
Not quite. Shanghai GM is a 50-50 joint venture between GM and SAIC. SAIC is government-owned. GM, obviously, isn’t. Who cares who bears what percentage of “accountability” for the sale drop?
The point is that sales are down. Meanwhile, other automakers (notably Ford and VW) are up in the same time period.
Are you sure abt 50-50?
A GM associate, who was based in Shanghai, told me it was 51-49. And the Chinese Govt owns the 51.
Does that sound right? Just curious…
Yes. It’s 50-50:
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2012/04/gm-gains-stake-in-chinese-saic-partnership-now-split-50-50/