2009 may have been the year in which General Motors (GM) slumped into bankruptcy but it also marked its most successful 12 months yet in arguably the most important emerging market in the world – China.

GM and its joint ventures in the country announced that their domestic sales in jumped by a massive 66.9 per cent in 2009 to a record of 1,826,424 units. That equates to a market share of 13.4 per cent – an improvement of 1.3 percentage points compared to the end of 2008.

The results were boosted by a strong end of year performance with Shanghai GM and SAIC-GM Wuling joint ventures both reporting record December sales. Added to this were sales from its new FAW-GM joint venture.

According to reports, domestic sales by Shanghai GM rose by 63.3 per cent to 727,620 units with Buick leading the way selling 447,011 units. The Excelle proved to be the most popular model for the sixth consecutive year selling 241,109 units while the New Regal and the new LaCROSSE also proved to be significant hits in the market.

Chevrolet sales also experienced strong growth with 332,774 units sold – an increase of 67.1 per cent compared to the previous year. The Cruze proved to be particularly popular, selling 92,190 units even though it was only on the market for nine months; while the Lova sold 118,935 units.

Much of GM’s success in the country is attributed to an aggressive product launch strategy that saw GM and its joint ventures introduce several new and upgraded models such as the Buick LaCROSSE, the New Regal turbo, the Chevrolet Cruze and the new Cadillac SLS and SRX. GM also brought its most economical engines to the country with the new 1.2 litre engine in the Chevrolet Spark and the ECOTEC 1.6 litre DVVT engine in the Chevrolet Cruze both making the list of the 10 best engines in China for 2009.