GM Sells 10M cars worldwide

Despite slowing sales at home, GM sells 10 million cars worldwide in 2017 for the first time, lifting it to record profits thanks to China.  Strong sales in China more than made up for slower sales in the United States. The milestone led GM, the largest American automaker, to record profit. General Motors Co. said Thursday its sales in China rose 7.1 percent last year to set a new annual sales record in the country, its largest sales market.

The Detroit automaker and its joint ventures sold 3.87 million vehicles last year, as GM’s Cadillac, Buick and Baojun brands all set sales records in China. The 2016 results break the previous record set last year and accounted for a third of GM’s total global sales. GM was in third place among world automakers, behind Volkswagen (VLKAF), which sold 10.3 million cars, and Toyota (TM), which sold 10.2 million. GM (GM) was the world’s largest automaker for 77 years but lost the title to Toyota in 2008. Volkswagen topped global sales for the first time in 2016. China is now GM’s largest market. Sales growth there lifted it to volume it never achieved when it was the world’s biggest automaker. GM recorded its fourth straight year of record sales even as U.S. sales fell slightly, the first decline in GM’s home market since 2009.