BEIJING -- General Motors Co. said Friday it set a sales record in China in September and total sales for the first nine months of the year rose 55 percent to nearly 1.3 million vehicles, according to The Associated Press.

GM and other global automakers are looking to China's fast-growing market to drive sales amid slack demand elsewhere. China's monthly sales have surpassed those of United States for all but but two months this year.

GM and its Chinese joint-venture partners sold a total of 181,148 vehicles in September, the company said. It gave no comparative year-earlier figure.