GM China, the Chinese subsidiary of U.S. carmaker General Motors, said Thursday its auto sales in August in China rose 19.2 percent from a year earlier to 181,625 units.

The August figure brought sales in the first eight months of the year to about 1.57 million units, up 41 percent year on year, the company said.

Shanghai GM, GM's joint venture with Chinese automaker Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), sold 81,063 units of vehicles in August, an increase of 28.1 percent over the same period last year.

SAIC-GM-Wuling, a joint venture between GM, SAIC Motor and Liuzhou Wuling Motors, sold 95,119 vehicles in August, up 7.15 percent from a year ago.

Among GM brands in China, Chevrolet reported 33.5 percent year-on-year growth in sales with 38,482 units sold in August.

Sales of the Buick brand totaled 45,684 units in the month, up 17.4 percent year on year.

The Cadillac brand's sales increased 177.6 percent to 1,624 units in August.

Auto sales in China grew rapidly after the government halved the sales taxes on cars with an engine displacement of 1.6 liters or less in January last year. The tax cut took the sales tax on the small cars to 5 percent. But the tax was raised to 7.5 percent this year.

Chinese auto sales totaled 9.46 million units in the first eight months of the year, up 31.53 percent year on year, the China Automotive Technology and Research Center said Wednesday.