Two women examine a General Motors Co Chevrolet Volt at an expo. The automaker's Chinese sales rose in June as customers bought more Buick and Chevrolet cars. The company sold 193,878 vehicles in China last month, 10 percent more than the 176,489 sold a year earlier. [Photo / China Daily]

SHANGHAI - General Motors Co, the biggest overseas automaker in China, said its June sales rose in the country, reversing a two-month decline, as customers bought more Buick and Chevrolet passenger cars.

GM sold 193,878 vehicles in China last month, 10 percent more than the 176,489 sold a year earlier, the Detroit-based company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The gain follows a 2.7 percent drop in May and 5 percent decline in April.

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GM, which makes cars and minivans with Chinese partner SAIC Motor Corp, boosted sales as demand grew for passenger cars, including the Buick Excelle and Chevrolet Cruze.

The US carmaker's sedan venture with SAIC, which makes Buick and Chevrolet-branded cars, increased sales 41 percent over the same period to 101,524 units in the country, the company said in Tuesday's statement.

China's passenger-vehicle sales will likely post "strong sales growth" in June as buying sentiment recovers and output at Japanese carmakers returns to normal, Hou Yankun and Xu Ming, analysts at Nomura International Hong Kong Ltd, wrote in a note to clients.

Passenger car sales on the mainland fell in May for the first time in more than two years after Japanese automakers cut production because of supply shortages caused by the country's earthquake and tsunami in March.

May deliveries fell 0.1 percent from a year earlier to 1.04 million units, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on June 9.

Sales by SAIC-GM-Wuling Automotive Co, GM's minivan venture with SAIC, fell by 11 percent to 88,207 units in June.

The joint venture makes the Wuling Sunshine minivan, China's best-selling vehicle. China phased out purchase incentives, which benefited such vehicles at the start of the year.

Buick-branded sales in June rose 48 percent from a year ago, and the automaker delivered 34 percent more Chevrolet cars than in June 2010, the company said.

GM sold 1.27 million vehicles in the first half of the year, it said on Tuesday.

GM, which estimates it has a 14.7 percent market share in China, aims to double sales in the market to 5 million units by 2015.

Bloomberg News