First-time buyers drive GM sales in China

Beijing: General Motors sold a record number of cars in China last month and sales for the first nine months of the year rose 55 per cent to 1.3 million vehicles.

China overtook the US as the world's biggest car market earlier this year and is now a key battleground for manufacturers who have seen demand in established markets such as Europe and the States fall off in the recession.

GM and its Chinese partners sold a total of 181,148 vehicles in September, the company said.

"Sales continue to surpass forecasts as nearly all market segments experience growth," said GM China Group President Kevin Wale in a statement.

Wale, who said first-time car buyers in China's smaller cities were a major driving force behind surging sales, has forecast a more than 40 per cent surge in GM's vehicle sales in the country this year.

Beijing has helped to boost car sales with tax cuts and subsidies for drivers to shift to cleaner, more fuel-efficient cars. Most of that aid has gone to Chinese makers of smaller cars.