GM's China sales pass US for first time in history

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Yahoo News:

DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors Co. sold more cars and trucks in China last year than it did in the U.S., for the first time in the company's 102-year history.

But despite GM's gains in China, Toyota Motor Corp. managed to hold onto the title of world's largest automaker. The Japanese company reported 8.42 million sales worldwide last year. That's 30,000 more than GM's 8.39 million in global sales for 2010.

GM expects its sales growth to continue, and industry analysts say it may dethrone Toyota as the global sales leader this year. The news came the same day that GM announced it was adding a shift and workers to a plant in Flint, Mich., that makes hot-selling pickup trucks.

GM and Toyota tied for the global sales lead in 2007, ending GM's 76-year string of dominance. Toyota took the title in 2008 and has held it ever since, but last year's string of embarrassing safety recalls and a resurgent GM combined to make the race close again.

"General Motors is going strong, and it's a sure sign of its re-emergence," said Yasuaki Iwamoto, auto analyst with Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo.
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They certainly got a sweet deal from their new Chinese partners...