GM's China sales rebound in October

General Motors (GM) saw its China sales increase 19.6% year-on-year to 199,641 units in October, Bloomberg reported. The company – which saw sales of Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac vehicles all rise – said it was on course to clear 2 million vehicles in China this year. Sales for the first 10 months jumped 35.5% to 1,976,913 units. October sales growth accelerated from 15% in September – GM’s slowest in 18 months, believed to be the result of government stimulus measures wearing off. However, since then car dealers have begun offering more incentives to buyers while Beijing has rolled out subsidies for purchases of energy-efficient vehicles. GM, which is preparing for an initial public offering worth as much as US$10.6 billion, recently agreed to deepen its technical cooperation with Chinese joint venture partner SAIC Motor Corp (600104.SH). Separately, BMW (BMW.FWB) said strong demand in China was partly responsible for its third-quarter net profit reaching US$1.22 billion, up from US$107.9 million a year ago.