President and CEO of General Motors Frederick A. Henderson said here Tuesday that China has surpassed U.S. to be the largest market for the automobile giant.


"Interestingly, if we look at China' s market this year, we found the market has surpassed U.S market in size for GM," he said during his first visit to China after he became the CEO in March.
 
GM and its joint ventures in the Chinese mainland sold'1,148 vehicles in China in September, an all-time monthly record.
 
For the first nine months in 2009, GM's sales in China totaled 1,292,549 units, up 55.6 percent than the previous year and a new record for the same period historically.
 
"In the last 100 days, there are certainly a lot of challenges still in the business for the U.S market, but with our improved structure, we can focus on how to improve our market," said Henderson.
 
Henderson thought China is a "big part for GM today", and GM "will continue to win in China".
 
New Chevrolet Sail, a small car designed by the Shanghai GM Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center, a 50-50 joint venture between General Motors and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (Group), will be brought to the Chinese market in early 2010, he told the press Tuesday.
 
GM will also bring five new car models to China in early 2010 and 30 models in the next five years. These new cars are electric cars or hybrid cars, in eyes of promoting green consumption of cars in China, said Henderson.
 
"China will probably be the country that develops small electric cars faster than anywhere else in the world," Nick Reilly, President of GM Asia-Pacific, said.
 
General Motors Company, often known as simply GM, is a United States based automaker with headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. GM was the world's'th largest corporate entity and third largest automaker as ranked by 2008 revenues on the Fortune Global 500. Ranked by global unit sales for 2008, it was the world's second largest automaker.
 
GM manufactures cars and trucks in 34 countries, recently employed 244,500 people around the world, and sells and services vehicles in some--0 countries.
 
On July 10, 2009 GM emerged from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization and is now majority owned by the United States Treasury and Canadian governments.
 
While no GM shares are currently available to the public, the company plans an initial public stock offering in 2010.
 

GM plans to focus its business on its four core US brands - Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC, although in Europe Opel/Vauxhall vehicles will remain in development and continue to be 35 percent owned by GM.