Shanghai: General Motors expects to sell about 2 million vehicles in China in 2010, a level it didn't expect to reach for at least another two years, said Kevin Wale, the company's top executive in the nation.

GM plans to introduce more than 10 new models in China this year, Wale said in an interview in Shanghai on Saturday. The company, China's largest overseas carmaker, sold 1.83 million vehicles in the country in 2009, 67 per cent more than a year earlier. In an April statement, GM forecast reaching annual sales of 2 million vehicles over five years.

The Detroit-based automaker has boosted investment in China since exiting bankruptcy in July as economic growth and stimulus measures caused the nation to surpass the US as the world's largest auto market last year. At home, US government-controlled GM has shut plants on tumbling demand.

"After last year's sales boom driven by government stimulus, GM may see sales slow in products like Wuling minivans while Shanghai GM may continue to perform well with more attractive models," Yu Bing, an analyst at Pingan Securities Company in Shanghai, said in a phone interview yesterday.

Sales tax

China last year halved the sales tax on new vehicles to 5 per cent and offered $732 million (Dh2.688 billion) in cash to replace old ones, insulating the country from slumping global demand. Passenger-car sales rose 53 per cent to 10.3 million as overall vehicle sales gained 46 per cent to 13.6 million.

China announced plans on December 10 to scale back the measures, including raising the tax on new vehicles with engines of 1.6 litres or smaller to 7.5 per cent. Still, GM expects total vehicle sales of 14.5 million to 15 million in the country this year, Wale said on January 13.

"China's car market may grow 10 per cent to 15 per cent this year, with intensified competition among automakers as the government gradually scales back stimulus," Pingan's Yu said. "To maintain sales and profit growth, carmakers may make more effort to attract urban buyers to medium- and high-end models."

Talks about purchasing additional shares in minivan venture SAIC-GM-Wuling Automotive Company are ongoing, Wale said on Saturday, at the introduction of the Buick Excelle XT, a five-door compact sedan that will sell for $19,800 to $27,222.

GM is in talks to buy 10 per cent of the Wuling venture, China's largest mini-vehicle maker, to take its stake to 44 per cent, SAIC Motor Corporation President Chen Hong said on December 22. Shanghai-based SAIC Motor, a GM partner, owns 50.1 per cent of the venture, and Liuzhou Wuling Automotive Company owns 15.9 per cent.

Sales at the venture surged 64 per cent to 1.1 million vehicles last year, about 60 per cent of GM's China sales, the company said on January 4.