General Motors has confirmed it sold 9,714,652 vehicles in 2013, a rise of 4 percent on the 9.29 million it sold the previous year. That puts it about equal with the Volkswagen Group, although the German auto giant hasn’t revealed an exact figure for its own sales, stating only that it sold more than 9.7 million units in 2013. Toyota, which is yet to release its figures for 2013, is expected to retain its position as the number one automaker in terms of sales.
China was once again the single biggest market for General Motors Company [NYSE:GM], having snapped up 3,160,246 of its vehicles in 2013, a rise of 11 percent on the 2,836,128 purchased the year before. Sales in the U.S. reached 2,786,078 units, a rise of 7 percent on the 2,595,717 units from the year before. The third biggest market was Brazil, with sales in 2013 totaling 649,849 units, a rise of 1 percent on the 642,734 sold the year before.
The Chevrolet brand sold a record 4,984,126 vehicles in 2013, an increase of 19,304 units from the previous record of 4,964,822 set in 2012. The Buick and Cadillac brands also saw double-digit sales percentage increases during 2013.
It wasn’t all good news for GM. Like most major automakers, GM saw sales decline in Europe. GM’s sales in Europe totaled 1,556,754 units in 2013, which was down 3 percent on the 1,610,711 it sold in the region the previous year. GM also saw sales decline in South America, with the total for the 2013 coming in at 1,037,458, down 1 percent on the 1,051,040 the previous year.
“A healthy auto market in the United States and China, and very successful product launches at all of our brands worldwide drove GM’s growth in 2013 and helped us navigate difficult conditions in Europe and parts of South America and Asia,” GM’s new president Dan Ammann said in a statement.
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