General Motors, the world's largest automaker, has announced that its car sales in the first half of the year in China hit a record high of 259,653, up 57.6 percent from the same 2003 period.

Shanghai GM, the US automakers' largest joint venture in the country, sold 141,319 passenger cars in the first half of this year, an increase of 92.4 percent.

The sales of SAIC-GM-Wuling, GM's mini-vehicle joint venture insouth China, rose by 32.5 percent from the same period last year to 115,938 in the first six months.

GM did not release first-half profits in the Chinese mainland, but its net profits last year in the country stood at 437 million dollars and the figure is expected to grow with the company's expansion plans.

Last month, GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner announced plans torelocate GM's Asia-Pacific regional headquarters from Singapore toShanghai by January next year and to invest over 3 billion dollarsmore in China over the next three years.

Currently, GM operates six joint ventures in China with its strategic partner Shanghai Automotive Industry (Group) Corp. (SAIC), including the Shanghai GM Company Ltd. and the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC).

Shanghai GM sold a total of 24,000 cars in June of this year, outstripping long-time rival Shanghai Volkswagen to rank first in sales of passenger cars in China.

Source: Xinhua