GM'S sales in China jumped 10 percent to a record 220,412 vehicles in October, helped by renewed demand for its minivans.

Sales by General Motors Co and its China joint ventures have exceeded 2.1 million so far this year, an increase of about 7 percent from the 1.97 million vehicles it sold in January-October 2010, the company said yesterday.

Despite strong demand in some areas, especially luxury vehicles and SUVs and some GM models, overall demand in China, the world's largest auto market, has been lackluster this year.

Ford Motor China said its sales in October were flat compared with a year earlier at 40,857 vehicles, though its sales in the first 10 months rose 9 percent from a year earlier, at 426,814 vehicles.

Sales figures for domestic automakers are due later this week.

Dealerships saw business slow this year after the government ended tax incentives and subsidies meant to encourage purchases of small, fuel efficient cars. Licensing quotas and other curbs meant to help control chronic traffic jams have also hurt.

But foreign automakers have fared better than local ones.