General Motors (GM +1.26%) continued to perform strongly in the U.S. as its August sales climbed 10% to 240,520 vehicles, helped by increased demand for the Chevrolet Cruze, Chevrolet Equinox and Chevrolet Impala, which grew 19%, 22% and 28%, respectively.
Overall, the sales for the first eight months of the year are up 3.7%. The U.S. auto market has defied expectations this year, with the industry on course to sell 14.5 million vehicles.
Meanwhile, GM and its joint ventures sold 220,996 vehicles in August in China, the world's largest auto market, representing a rise of 7.3% year over year. For the first eight months of the year, GM sold 1.8 million vehicles, or an increase of 11.2%. GM China is the most important division for the automaker and contributes about 38% to the stock price, according to our estimates.