GM sells record 9.92M cars in 2014; Chevy sales fall

General Motors Co. said Wednesday it sold a record 9.92 million vehicles globally last year, up more than 2 percent from 2013’s record led by strength from North America and China.

The totals likely put GM — the U.S.’s largest automaker — in third place this year for the global auto sales crown. Earlier this month, Volkswagen AG said it sold 10.14 million vehicles globally last year. Toyota Motor Corp. has not released sales figures for 2014.

“GM is making solid progress and has good momentum,” GM CEO Mary Barra said in a statement. “Our customer focus, the new cars, trucks and crossovers we launched in China and North America, technologies like OnStar with 4G LTE and the revitalization underway at Opel helped us achieve another record year, despite very challenging market conditions in different parts of the world.”

GM’s sales last year were highest in China, where the company and its joint ventures sold a record 3.54 million vehicles and increased market share by 0.6 percentage points to 14.8 percent. Sales rose 12 percent in China and were up 5.5 percent in North America last year. GM said its North American market share likely remained unchanged at 16.9 percent over 2013. Sales in the U.S. rose 5.3 percent to almost 2.94 million.

Other top five sales markets for GM included Brazil, down 10.9 percent to 578,875; the United Kingdom, up 1.2 percent to 304,696 and Canada, up 6.3 percent to 249,800.

Sales in GM Europe fell 9.9 percent to 1.26 million and dropped 15.3 percent in South America to 878,075. Sales also fell 6.7 percent to 838,010 in GM’s International Operations markets outside of China.

Buick brand global sales jumped 13.3 percent last year to 1.17 million, while Cadillac sales increased 5.2 percent and Opel/Vauxhall sales increased 3 percent. The company’s largest brand, Chevrolet, saw sales fall 4.1 percent to nearly 4.79 million due to macroeconomic and currency issues in Russia and South America and because of GM’s decision to stop selling most Chevrolets in Europe.

Chevy sales jumped 10 percent in China to a a record 717,007 vehicles. Chevy sales in the U.S. hit 2.03 million, up 4.4 percent. Other top markets for Chevrolet included Brazil, Mexico and Canada. In 2013, one of Chevy’s top five markets was Russia.

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