GM sells 252,567 vehicles in China in May, down 4% YoY

General Motors and its joint ventures sold 252,567 vehicles last month in China, which was down 4.0 percent year over year, primarily due to model changeovers for several models and the phasing out of older ones. GM’s May retail sales reflected improved mix of SUVs and MPVs, which combined were up 21.8 percent, and a 10.9 percent increase in sales of Cadillac luxury models.

For the first five months as a whole, GM and its joint ventures had record retail sales in China of 1,472,186 vehicles, an increase of 5.1 percent on an annual basis.

“China’s vehicle market continues to grow at a moderate pace,” said GM executive vice-president and GM China president Matt Tsien. “We expect about 6-8 percent annual growth, which is significant given the size of the world’s largest passenger vehicle market.”

“We continue to respond to shifting consumer preferences with more new products in the high-growth SUV, MPV and luxury segments, including the Baojun 560 and Buick Envision, as well as the Buick Verano and new Chevrolet Malibu sedans. In addition, we are increasing production to meet demand for the popular Envision.”

SAIC-GM-Wuling sold a May record 133,093 units in China, an increase of 2.7 percent on an annual basis. Domestic sales by Shanghai GM were down 7.6 percent to 119,214 units.

Buick sales in the domestic market decreased 12.9 percent on an annual basis to 62,601 units. It was led by the Excelle XT and GT, which had sales of 15,311 units. Sales of the Envision reached a new monthly record of 11,556 units. Demand for Buick’s trio of SUVs (Envision, Enclave and Encore) jumped 157.6 percent from last May to 18,592 units.

Chevrolet sales in China decreased 2.2 percent on an annual basis to 50,021 units. Its most popular nameplate in May was the Cruze, which sold 20,675 units, an increase of 6.6 percent year on year. It was followed by the Sail, which had sales of 13,474 units, and the Malibu, whose sales totaled 8,097 units.

Cadillac sold a May record 6,592 units in China, up 10.9 percent year over year. Sales of the ATS-L and ATS totaled 2,758 units – compared to 536 units in the same month last year. They were followed by the SRX, with sales of 1,915 units, and the XTS, which sold 1,859 units.

Baojun sales were up 293.8 percent on an annual basis to 24,095 units. Wuling sales decreased 11.7 percent from May 2014 to 108,998 units, due in large part to a model changeover of the Hong Guang MPV.

Between January and May, SAIC-GM-Wuling’s domestic sales grew 10.4 percent to 809,657 units, while Shanghai GM’s sales rose 3.0 percent to 660,270 units. Both were records for the period.