China offers hope to GM

SHANGHAI // General Motors may have filed for bankruptcy in the US, but sales of GM vehicles in China have offered the struggling carmaker some hope. In the first half of 2009, GM sold 814,442 vehicles in China, a 38 per cent increase on the same period last year. Sales of commercial vehicles from GM's joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Group were up 49.9 per cent with 524,598 units sold in the first half of this year. Passenger vehicles, sold as part of the joint venture with Shanghai General Motors Corp, accounted for 288,843 of total sales for the same period.