GM steers China sales to new heights

BEIJING - General Motors Co's China sales rose to a record in March, surpassing its US deliveries for a third straight month and cementing the country's importance as the world's largest auto market.

GM, the biggest foreign automaker in China, boosted sales 68 percent to 230,048 vehicles last month, it said in a statement on Friday. That compares with a 33 percent gain for Japan's Toyota Motor Corp and a 47 percent jump by South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. GM raised US sales 21 percent in March to 188,546.

Detroit-based GM aims to increase its China sales to 2 million vehicles this year from 1.83 million in 2009, when government subsidies helped boost the nation's auto demand 46 percent from a year earlier, surpassing the US for the first time. Industrywide sales growth in China is forecast to slow this year, even as carmakers raise production capacity.