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GM Asia-Pacific head sees China growth returning

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-13 08:59

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp.'s top executive in its Asia-Pacific region is predicting sales growth in China during the second half of the year.

Related readings:  GM sees slow sales growth in mainland  GM China sales growth slumps to 6% in 2008  China in the auto drivers seat  VW sells more than 1 million vehicles in China in 2008

Nick Reilly, president of the division, said Monday that growth has slowed in the fast-growing and second-largest auto market in the world, but the full year should be at least as strong as 2008, when the market was 9.5 million vehicles.

Growth in the last half of the year "could be quite robust" depending on how fast government stimulus incentives take effect, Reilly told reporters at the North American International Auto Show.

China could overtake the US as the world's No. 1 auto sales market as soon as 2014 or 2015 if the US market remains slow, Reilly said.

Last year, automakers sold 13.2 million vehicles in the US, according to Autodata Corp.