GM China Sales Rise 55% To A Record

GM’s sales may be taking a thrashing in its home market, but Chines sales for the No.1 US car company are getting good enough to trump the company’s trouble in America, or at least offset.

GM said that its sales in China rose to 181,148. Sales for the first nine months of 2009 where up and extraordinary 55% to 1.3 million vehicles.

The numbers out of the world’s most populous nation show that GM can be nimble and adroit at sizing up a market and building the right cars for it. GM and VW now hold the lead among all car manufacturers in China. That leaves some of the world’s strongest car companies, most notably Toyota (NYSE:TM) and Honda (NYSE:HMC), fighting for market share from a lower sales base. Ford’s (NYSE:F) sales in China are relative strong even though it is now the strongest domestic car company in America. Chrysler has a tiny presence in China which is particularly bad given its awful sales in the US.

GM is still doing badly in the US. Its sales were down by almost half last month. The company’s management admitted publicly that it has been able to cut costs but is still struggling to improve sales in the American market. It may want to move its headquarters to Shanghai and be done with it.

Douglas A. McIntyre