US auto giant General Motors said yesterday its sales in China hit 205,885 units in August – a record for the month – up 13.4 per cent from a year ago due to strong growth in passenger car purchases.

The record figure comes despite government moves earlier this year to phase out incentives such as tax breaks for small engine vehicles, originally implemented to ward off the impact of the global financial crisis.

GM’s August increase in China – which overtook the United States in 2009 to become the world’s largest car market - marks a recovery from a 1.8 per cent fall in July.

The US auto giant and its joint ventures sold a total of 1.65 million vehicles - also a record - in the first eight months of the year, the company said in a statement.

Sales at Shanghai GM, its passenger car joint venture with China’s largest auto maker SAIC Motor, rose 21.7 per cent to 98,674 units in August.

Sales at SAIC-GM-Wuling - a three-way mini-commercial vehicle and passenger car tie-up between GM, SAIC and China’s Liuzhou Wuling Automobile - rose 8.2 per cent in August to 102,959.

However, sales at FAW-GM, its light commercial vehicle joint venture with China’s FAW Group, were down 30.4 per cent in August compared with the same month last year.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers has said it expects sales growth for the while sector in China of five per cent for this year, lower than an earlier forecast of 10-15 per cent and less than the 32 per cent rise last year.

For the January-July period, China’s vehicle sales rose 3.2 per cent to 10.60 million vehicles.