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GM
and its Chinese joint-venture partners sold 246,066 cars in
June, virtually unchanged from the same month a year ago, the
U.S. automaker said in a statement on Monday.
That compares with a 4 percent year-on-year drop in May sales
and a 0.4 percent dip in April, when the automaker switched to
reporting retail sales rather than wholesale data for China.
GM has largely failed to counteract sluggish auto sales so far
despite slashing prices on 40 models in May by up to 20 percent,
as China's economy grows at its slowest rate in 25 years. The
automaker also faces rapidly shifting tastes among Chinese
consumers, now showing a pronounced preference for small,
affordable sport-utility vehicles.
"SUVs and MPVs (multi-purpose vehicles) are growing fast but
that growth was offset by the segment shift - sales slowing in
the sedan and mini-commercial vehicle market," GM spokeswoman
Irene Shen said.
In the first six months of the year, GM sold 1.72 million cars,
up 4.4 percent from a year earlier.
For the market overall, sales for January to May rose only 2.1
percent from a year earlier, giving 2015 the slowest start since
2012, according to the most recent statistics available from the
China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
CAAM is due to report June sales for the overall market on
Friday.
(Reporting by Jake Spring; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
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