Despite General Motors Corp's problems in the US market, the automaker's worldwide sales were at their highest level in 27 years last year thanks to growth in Asia and Latin America, GM chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said.
"Getting outside of the US market we had a good year, on balance, around the world," Wagoner said in a transcript of remarks released on Saturday by GM.
Wagoner said preliminary sales figures show GM sold 9.2 million vehicles worldwide. The only other year GM sold more than 9 million vehicles was 1978, he said.
The figure raises the bar for Toyota Motor Corp, which is close to surpassing GM in worldwide sales to become the world's largest automaker. Toyota produced about 8.1 million vehicles last year and has announced plans to build 9.06 million vehicles this year.
Wagoner said more than half of GM's sales are now outside the US, and China is the automaker's second biggest market.
GM was particularly strong in Asia, selling more than 1 million vehicles for the first time ever, Wagoner said. GM's market share in the Asia-Pacific region was 5.8 percent. In 2004, GM sold 887,000 vehicles in the region and had a 5.2 percent market share.
GM also had its best year ever in Latin America, selling more than 900,000 vehicles, Wagoner said. He said the company is still tallying results in Europe but believes it was a record year there as well.
The numbers are a stark contrast to US sales, where GM lost market share last year. GM sold 4.4 million cars and trucks in the US last year for a market share of 26 percent. That was down from 27.3 percent in 2004, according to Autodata Corp.
Wagoner said the Chevrolet brand is responsible for much of the worldwide growth spurt. Chevrolet's sales rose in Asia, Europe and Latin America, he said. The brand now sells more than 4 million vehicles worldwide, or around 6 percent of all vehicles sold.
Chevrolet sales were down 3.2 percent in the US last year, but the brand was still the top-selling brand in the US, capturing those honors from Ford for the first time since 1986.
"Some of them you win by hanging around," Wagoner said.
Wagoner said the outlook for the US and Europe this year is fairly flat and that global growth will be driven by Asian markets.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique