Sales growth slows in China

Sales growth of world's largest car market slowed sharply year-on-year in first quarter.

BEIJING: General Motors, the biggest overseas automaker in China, said on Saturday that its sales growth in the world’s largest car market had slowed sharply year-on-year in the first quarter.

The US auto giant said it sold 685,583 vehicles over the first three months of 2011, exactly 10 per cent more than during the first three months of 2010. GM said it sold 233,014 vehicles in China last month, against 230,048 vehicles in March last year, an increase of just 1.3 per cent. The slowdown in market growth, predicted by analysts, is seen as a consequence of the end of incentives offered by the Chinese government during the 2008-09 financial crisis. China’s booming market has become increasingly important to GM as demand weakens in the United States.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 03^rd, 2011.