GM's China sales surge 50 pct to monthly record

[question everything]

Source: AP

SHANGHAI (AP) — General Motors said Tuesday that sales in China soared 50 percent in April to a monthly record of 151,084 vehicles, thanks to strong demand for Buick brand cars and Wuling minivehicles.

Sales of the Buick Excelle sedan, a staple in GM's Shanghai-produced portfolio, more than doubled from a year ago to 22,078, the company said in a statement.

Overall Buick sales jumped 63.6 percent in April to 38,071 units, it said.

GM's minivehicle joint venture, SAIC-GM-Wuling, has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of Chinese government policies aimed at encouraging purchases of small cars and minivans. Wuling minivehicle sales surged 60.6 percent from a year earlier in April, to 95,544 units, it said.

Vehicle sales in China so far this year have outpaced those in the U.S. If those trends continue, China would replace the U.S. as the world's biggest auto market.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hn9VHtGiDjTa3mjiR5pWleoMMXmAD9801E6O1

[Occam Bandage]

1. That's where the market is. Glad that GM is investing heavily there. nt

[Gregorian]

2. This is extremely troubling. Or great news if you love growth.

But there is almost no point in even mentioning it since it is not going to change. I'm talking about the havoc that this wreaks on the poor planet earth. The steamroller is engaged and on full throttle. Kamikaze blaze to the finish line. A billion people want what we had. It's really quite sad. The Chinese have even banned bikes in some cities. How sick is that?

[dkf]

3. That is very ironic.

Are we fighting global warming or saving jobs? Looks like its an either or in this case.

[Gregorian]

4. I know. It makes for a strange and troubling conflict.

I see it as a critical point in time. Just as ironic, that point was where we designed a comfortable and safe lifestyle that would eventually kill us. That point was also the one beyond which there would be no quick turning back. I'll admit that even without the modern designs for our lifestyle, that change in nature was happening anyways, due to population. I've lived in a few places, and the stories I've heard, and the animal populations (or lack thereof) are extremely disturbing.

The way I see it is that we're always faced with the Garden of Eden. Each step we take is a decision. Do we continue destroying it, or do we finally decide to live with it. It's almost like the bank bailout. Let them die, or spend more money than we have bailing them out due to fear that they'll fail.

I keep thinking how nearly perfect 1890 was. Nature still existed. And we had electricity. My last two properties were examples of how people lived during those years. Barns, orchards.

I am really feeling hopeless. Not too many people see this. We're in a positive feedback loop. People have kids, and their heads are buried in their family sand, and they work their days away never seeing or hearing the mess of their own world.

I just spent 20 years going from property to property in search of a place that isn't offensive in some way, whether too many cars, houses, noise. I give up. I've owned some of the best properties one can find.

Oh well, I wasn't going to spew my personal stuff. But it's making it hard on all of us. I'm envious of those who can't see it.

[WriteDown]

5. 1890's?????

Check out the death in childbirth statistics of that time. Or the lack of anti-biotics, vaccines, etc. Few would want to go back to that "great" time.

[question everything]

7. And segregation and discrimination (nt)

[Gregorian]

8. And look what it got us.

I realize that civil rights are a recent benefit. That was not a positive for the time I mentioned. It's hard to see how a time could be better without anti-biotics. And I realize that people take refrigerators for granted. I don't. Yet I still say that from my experiences, that period of time was far better than now. It depends upon what one values. I value silence and nature. Not more babies. I can't even say what I'm thinking without being taken as cruel. But I believe that some people shouldn't be here. In fact, a lot of people shouldn't. Maybe one is me. What I mean is that we've taken nature into our own hands. It's comfortable. It's healthy. And it's not natural. I'll take 1890 any day over highways with cars. We're diseased now.

I'm trying to watch a documentary on torture, and write this. Geez. I better leave this now.

[WriteDown]

9. If you are enamored with that lifestyle, there are PLENTY...

of places you can go in the US where you can reenact it. Try Montana, or North Dakota. Or even by my tribe in Northern NY.

[Gregorian]

10. You are kind of missing my entire point.

It's not about me. It's not about any one person. There is a consciousness that most people are missing. It's about WE. Greed is about me. That is what got us 7 billion people. Melting ice caps. Cars everywhere. Just me. We're all doing it. We can't help but do it. I'm building a million dollar house right now. I just thought I'd mention it so as to admit to my hypocrisy. Although I don't have children. Which means that ultimately I have not added significantly to the consumption on the planet. I finally broke down and decided I would stop living in cabins in the woods, trailer homes. It's partly because of the real estate market. I am finally stuck with a property. I'm not going to spend another year without electricity. But that aside, it's about multiplicity. Which really translates to population in combination with modern living. There is nothing wrong with modern living. There is something wrong with billions trying to live that way. The planet's equilibrium simply cannot cope with it. We went beyond the capacity of which the planet could handle, around the beginning of the last century. Which is why we invented the Bosch-Haber cycle. Now we can feed more than the planet can provide. And grow, and grow, and grow. What needs, or needed, to happen was for people to extrapolate. Think about what would happen if we continued to grow and combust petroleum. People act as though there are no limits. Now nature is going to force us to behave like WE rather than ME. But it's going to be ugly, whereas it could have been painless. Just a little foresight and sacrifice.

I often find it odd that we have chosen to make problems for ourselves on this planet. I look out at this incredible universe and see unfathomable space and distance. Black holes, incredibly strange things like time relativity. In a way I have to almost contradict myself. I say that we created the problems. But it's as though this planet was perfect, and is no longer. Like perhaps no matter if we did try to live in equilibrium it would have come to a crashing end.

I've got a bonfire to go tend. Enough of my mindless blabbing. My only point I guess is that it seems like so many people just don't care about anything but themselves. Too many Palins in this world.

[blue_onyx]

6. "Overall Buick sales jumped 63.6 percent "

That answers why GM is keeping Buick. This is good news for GM. At least they're doing well somewhere.