The carmaker said Wednesday that China remains the company’s largest sales market, as retail sales rose 5.2 percent from the previous high set in 2014. December 2015 sales also set an all-time monthly high at 445,227 vehicles, up 14 percent year-over-year. Industry sales improved later in the year after the stock market in China fell around mid year. The government in China in the fall also cut a tax and instituted incentives to help bolster demand for vehicles and aid sales.
“We expect to have increased our market share in 2015 through great products and our team’s relentless effort,” GM China President Matt Tsien said in a statement. “We anticipate continued growth in 2016, as we plan to introduce 13 new and refreshed models starting with Cadillac’s all-new CT6 sedan later this month.”
GM said SUV sales last year jumped 144 percent as SUVs accounted for 13 percent of the company’s sales in 2015 in China, up from 5.6 percent in 2014. Multi-purpose vehicle sales also increased 12 percent from 2014.
Sales for the Cadillac luxury brand rose 17 percent from 2014 to 79,779 vehicles in 2015. Buick retail sales increased 12 percent to a record 989,167 vehicles. GM said sales were led by the Excelle GT, which sold 258,834 vehicles, followed by the Envision SUV, which had sales of 147,093. And Baojun sales surged 173 percent to a record 463,532 last year.
Sales for Chevrolet fell 9.7 percent to 612,024 vehicles, which GM blamed mostly on vehicle model changeovers. The automaker said it expects sales in 2016 to improve with the new models such as the Malibu XL and Cruze XL. Wuling brand sales also slipped 7.5 percent to nearly 1.47 million vehicles.
GM and its joint ventures last year added 12 new or refreshed vehicles.