(Yicai Global) Feb. 7 -- The steady downturn in China's automobile market has dragged down US automobile giant General Motors' sales in China for the second year in a row, and this has caused its investment income from its local joint ventures to plunge by 42.8 percent to USD1.1 billion, GM said in its latest financial statement.

GM's new car deliveries fell by 15 percent to 3.1 million units in the country last year, a drop that came on the heels of a 10 percent decline in sales in 2018. Its Buick brand's sales dived 16.7 percent to 850,000 vehicles and Chevrolet plummeted by one-fifth to 418,000 units, while those of the SAIC-GM's JV company SGMW fell 5 percent to 1 million.

The firm's stock [NYSE:GM] shed 2 percent of its value yesterday, closing at USD34.33, down from a high of USD35.19.

The United Automobile Workers' strike brought a four-week suspension of the Detroit-based auto juggernaut's US plant in the fourth quarter, wiping out about USD3.6 billion in profits. The company's total revenue fell 6.7 percent to USD137.2 billion last year, while its net profit dropped 17.4 percent to USD6.7 billion, according to the earnings report it released on Feb. 5.

GM's poor showing in China comes largely as a result of the low-end market's stagnant environment, which has dented sales of the firm's SGMW and Chevrolet marques. Three-cylinder engines have lost their luster in the country, and this has sapped the performance of its Buick and Chevrolet cars. The company will consequently equip its new Chevrolet Cruze and Buick Excelle models with four-cylinder engines, according to market reports.

The overall market terrain is still expected to be rocky this year, and the company will focus on enhancing its product positioning and cost efficiency, Matt Tsien, the firm's executive vice president and president of GM China, previously said.

The domestic automotive market will further decline overall under the onslaught of the novel coronavirus epidemic. The country's auto sales in the first quarter may slide by half over last year, and the decline in April alone will likely be more than one-tenth, according to Guangzhou-based automotive market researcher WASYS.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Ben Armour