General Motors' (GM) November Sales Jump 7% Y/Y In China

Share price of General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) increased to $35.07 on Dec 6 after the automaker and its joint ventures in China reported a 7% year-over-year increase in sales for Nov 2016, taking the figure to 371,740 vehicles. The improved performance was driven by solid sales of the Cadillac and Buick brands, and strong performance of the Baojun brand. New vehicles that were launched, including the new-generation Buick GL8 and Baojun 310, are recording solid deliveries.

Sales Performance of Brands

General Motors offers a wide range of passenger and commercial vehicles in China. The varied brands of vehicles on offer are Baojun, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Jiefang and Wuling.

The Buick brand’s sales in China rose 1.5% to 109,495 units in Nov 2016. The upside was driven by an increase in sales of the Excelle GT and Envision. Excelle GT sales rose to more than 36,000 units. Envision sales went up 29% to 24,000 units. Verano sales went up to 18,000 units. General Motors launched the new generation of the GL8 family, including the first Buick model from the Avenir sub-brand last month.

Sales of the Cadillac luxury vehicle brand witnessed a 70% rise to 13,476 units in Nov 2016. With this, Cadillac sales increased more than 50% for five consecutive months. The automaker also recorded strong demand, of more than 5,200 units, for the XT5 luxury crossover. Sales of the XTS luxury sedan surged 73% from the year-ago period.

Cadillac brand’s year-to-date vehicle sales in China crossed the 100,000 mark on Nov 25, 2016. The brand emerged as the fastest growing luxury car brand in the Chinese market.

The Baojun brand’s sales increased 28% year over year to 74,779 units in Nov 2016. Deliveries of the Baojun 730 MPV went up 30% year over year while sales of Baojun 310 hatchback exceeded 13,900 units within two months of its launch.

Wuling sales went down 0.2% to 121,566 units in China last month. Sales of Chevrolet increased 2.4% to 52,400 units. The automaker sold 12,000 Cavalier vehicles in Nov 2016 in China. Sales of Malibu, Cruze and Sail families crossed 10,000 units.

General Motors is a leading global automotive company. It has 11 joint ventures and two wholly owned foreign enterprises, with more than 58,000 employees in China.

Price Performance

General Motors has outperformed the Zacks categorized Auto Manufacturers-Domestic industry so far this year. Share price of the stock increased 6.73% so far this year while the Zacks categorized Auto-Manufacturers-Domestic industry saw a 0.03% increase. The company benefited from better results recorded in the last quarter and business initiatives including the expansion of Maven and investment in facilities. Expectations of higher earnings in 2016 also drove results.

Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks

General Motors currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Other favorably ranked companies in the auto space include Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ALSN) , America's Car-Mart Inc. (NASDAQ:CRMT) and Rush Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUSHA) .

Both Allison Transmission and America's Car-Mart sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Allison Transmission has a long-term growth rate of 11%.

America's Car-Mart has a long-term growth rate of 45.50%.

Rush Enterprises, carrying a Zacks Rank #2, has a long-term expected growth rate of 15%.

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