GM president: China becomes GM's largest market this year

President and CEO of General Motors Frederick A. Henderson said here Tuesday that China has surpassed US to be the largest market for the automobile giant.

"Interestingly, if we look at China' s market this year, we found the market has surpassed US market in size for GM," he said during his first visit to China after he became the CEO in March.

GM and its joint ventures in the Chinese mainland sold 181,148 vehicles in China in September, an all-time monthly record.

For the first nine months in 2009, GM's sales in China totaled 1,292,549 units, up 55.6 percent than the previous year and a new record for the same period historically.

"In the last 100 days, there are certainly a lot of challenges still in the business for the US market, but with our improved structure, we can focus on how to improve our market," said Henderson.

Henderson thought China is a "big part for GM today", and GM "will continue to win in China".

New Chevrolet Sail, a small car designed by the Shanghai GM Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center, a 50-50 joint venture between General Motors and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (Group), will be brought to the Chinese market in early 2010, he told the press Tuesday.

GM will also bring five new car models to China in early 2010 and 30 models in the next five years. These new cars are electric cars or hybrid cars, in eyes of promoting green consumption of cars in China, said Henderson.

"China will probably be the country that develops small electric cars faster than anywhere else in the world," Nick Reilly, President of GM Asia-Pacific, said.