GM Says China Sales More Than Double In October

BEIJING (AP) — General Motors Corp. said Monday its China sales in October more than doubled from a year earlier amid tax cuts and incentives to help boost the industry.

GM and other automakers are looking to China's fast-growing market to drive sales amid slack demand elsewhere. China's sales have surpassed those of United States for all but two months this year.

GM and its Chinese joint-venture partners sold a total of 166,911 vehicles in October, more than double the year-earlier period, the company said. It gave no figure for the same month of 2008.

The company said it sold just under 1.5 million vehicles in the first 10 months of the year and as of Monday had surpassed that level.

"This has been a year of records for GM in China," said Kevin Wale, GM China Group president, in a statement.

GM and other automakers are looking to first-time buyers in smaller Chinese cities to help drive sales as incomes outside the country's prosperous east coast rise.