Chevy sales give GM traction in 2011

The number of Chevrolets sold around the world last year was 4.76 million, setting a global sales record and driving General Motors Co.’s global sales to more than 9 million vehicles, a 7.6 percent gain over 2010.

Analysts say GM regained its top position as the biggest automaker in the world, although Toyota Motor has yet to announce its performance for all of last year.

GM Korea accounted for a large chunk of Chevy sales. Last year, it sold almost 2 million Chevrolet vehicles. It exported 627,000 cars, delivered 1.24 million vehicle kits assembled in foreign countries, and sold 140,750 cars in Korea, including 17,000 sold under the former Daewoo brand in the first two months of last year.

Sales were up in all four reporting regions - North America, South America, Europe and International Operations - as GM sold a total of 9,025,942 vehicles compared with 8,385,484 in 2010. GM gained four-tenths of a point in market share of the global vehicle industry to hit 11.9 percent.

The U.S. led the way for Chevrolet with total vehicle sales of 1,775,812, up more than 13 percent from 2010.

China posted record sales of 595,068, up 9.5 percent from the previous year. Other markets that posted significant year-over-year increases include Vietnam (79 percent), Russia (49 percent), Turkey (30 percent) and Germany (21 percent).

By Limb Jae-un [jbiz91@joongang.co.kr]