China has emerged to be a main engine for the growth of General Motors (GM), as last year the U.S. company became the first global automaker to sell more than two million units a year in the Chinese market, a top GM executive said.

The Detroit-based firm registered record-high sales in China of more than 2.3 million vehicles in 2010, up 28.8 percent from 2009, Steve Carlisle, GM's vice president, told Xinhua during the 2011 North America International Auto Show (NAIAS) underway here.

The company forecast a greater presence in the coming years in China, the fastest growing auto market in the world, he said.

"Our sales in China will keep growing, and China will continue remaining the world's largest market," Carlisle noted.

About 70 percent of GM's sales were currently from overseas markets, and a big portion of them was from the Chinese market, he added.

"In the past year, we have reduced from eight brands to four brands, and we have rebuilt the basics and increased our sales momentum in the United States, " Carlisle said.

GM got rid of Hummer, Saab, Pontiac and Saturn and has been focused on Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac since emerging from bankruptcy in 2009.

"The GM was endeavoring to come back to fundamentals through restructuring, keeping capacity at right size, having a very compelling product lineup with a much stronger push on the market," said Carlisle.

The U.S. auto sector staged a resilient recovery in 2010 after tiding over the worst time during the longest recession in decades, with the recent relisting of the auto giant GM, which was cited by U.S. President Barack Obama as a major milestone in the turnaround of the entire American auto industry.

The 2011 NAIAS kicked off on Monday in Detroit with more than 40 global top-notch auto brands showcasing their latest products and technology.