General Motors' joint ventures said January deliveries rose 7.3 percent year on year to 421,023 vehicles with strong demand at Buick, Cadillac and Baojun compensating for poor results at Chevrolet and Wuling.

 

Buick's China sales jumped 39 percent while demand at Cadillac rose 16 percent. Deliveries at the entry-level Baojun brand soared 101 percent but Chevrolet volume plunged 27 percent.

 

Demand for Wuling minibuses fell 17 percent as China's rural consumers switched to crossovers and MPVs.

 

Due to China's Lunar New Year, which shifts on the calendar year to year, analysts generally wait for February results to draw conclusions about sales trends. But it would appear that GM has maintained some momentum from last year.

 

In 2015, GM's China deliveries rose 5.2 percent to 3.61 million, allowing it to outsell rival Volkswagen AG.

 

Profits were strong, too. GM said this week that income from joint ventures and partnerships in China totaled $2.1 billion (13.8 billion yuan) in 2015, despite shaky economic conditions and volatile equity markets. The company enjoyed strong demand for crossovers such as the Buick Envision.