Wale said GM is very bullish about the long-term growth prospects of China's auto market. "We have seen very strong underlying demand across most demographic segments and most income segments across China," he said at a media briefing on Monday in Shanghai.

By tapping into this demand, GM is expecting to keep its growth in China in the fast track. "We expect to sell in excess of 3 million vehicles in 2015," he said.

Auto sales across China, including passenger as well as commercial vehicles, reached 4.6 million units in the first quarter, a surge of 71.8 percent year-on-year, according to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers released last week.

In 2009 China overtook the United States to become the world's largest auto market. Wale predicted the U.S. will lag farther behind China in 2010. "The gap will widen further this year," he said.

New products

At the one-hour long media briefing, Wale laid out GM's plans for China for the medium and long term. 

Over the past two years GM has introduced 14 new and upgraded vehicles in China. They include the new Cadillac CTS, the Buick New Regal and new LaCrosse, and the Chevrolet Cruze and the New Sail.

To sustain growth in China, GM and its joint ventures will introduce 25 new and upgraded models between 2010 and 2011. Among them, "seven to twelve are all new products," Wale said.

These models will be rolled out under GM's own brands, as well as the Wuling mini commercial vehicle brand and the Jiefang light truck brand owned by its joint ventures. 

Wale declined to provide full details of the 25 models, but said they will include the Chevrolet Volt, which will be introduced in China in 2011.

Fuel Efficiency

Wale says the average fuel economy of GM's locally produced passenger vehicles in China has improved 20 percent in the past five years. This has been due to the introduction of the company's newest products, including the Chevrolet Spark, Aveo and New Sail, and the Buick Excelle XT and New Regal.

GM plans to further improve the fuel efficiency of its locally built products between 2010 and 2015 through the adoption of a host of new technologies. Specifically, they include:

. Downsized, turbocharged and direct-injected (SIDI) engines, and advanced transmissions, which GM estimates will achieve fuel economy gains of between 7 percent and 9 percent. 
. Electric Power Steering (EPS), Start-Stop and hybrid systems to yield an additional fuel economy improvement of 5 percent to 15 percent. 
. A new generation of global vehicles offering great improvements in mass, aerodynamics and chassis construction compared to the vehicles they replace and the vehicles they compete against.
In addition, GM plans to roll out its next generation of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles in China over the next five years. 

GM owns 49 percent of Shanghai GM, 34 percent of SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co. and 50 percent of FAW-GM Light Duty Commercial Vehicle Co. 

GM and its joint ventures sold a record 1,826,424 vehicles in China in 2009.  In the first three months of 2010, GM and its joint ventures in China sold 623,546 units. That was an all-time quarterly record and nearly as many vehicles as the automaker sold in all of 2005, according to Wale.