GENERAL Motors Co and Ford Motor Co reported record car sales in China last year, outpacing Japanese rivals hurt by production disruptions from Thailand's floods and the March 11 earthquake.

Deliveries to Chinese dealers climbed 8.3 percent from a year earlier to 2.55 million vehicles, Detroit-based GM said in a statement yesterday. Ford said its sales grew 7 percent to 519,390 units. Toyota Motor Corp, Japan's biggest carmaker, said last week that China sales rose last year at the slowest pace since at least 2004 and Honda Motor Co yesterday reported its first ever annual decline in deliveries to the country.

GM, which received a US$50 billion bailout from the US government in 2009, sold an average of one car or truck every 12 seconds in the world's largest car market last year as it started a five-year rollout of more than 60 new and upgraded models in China. Japan's earthquake and tsunami affected suppliers for many Japanese automakers, with many also shutting plants in Thailand after the worst flooding in almost 70 years.

"The Americans capitalized on the setbacks suffered from the supply constraints of the Japanese and also benefited from the growing strength of their brands," said Michael Dunne, head of Dunne & Co, a Hong Kong-based industry researcher.

Industrywide deliveries for 2011 may have risen 3 percent to 5 percent, the least in 13 years, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, which is scheduled to release annual figures this week.

Sales growth slowed after the central bank raised borrowing costs to tackle inflation and the government phased out subsidies, rebates and a sales tax break on vehicle purchases.