For global auto giants struggling after the sweeping industry meltdown, the thriving Chinese market has become a safe haven.

General Motor's sales in the Chinese market totaled 1.21 million vehicles from January to June, topping the U.S. deliveries of 1.08 million.

This is the first time any overseas market has "consistently outsold" GM's home market in the carmaker's 102-year-old history, said Michael Albano, a Shanghai-based GM spokesman.

Also basking in the China boom was Ford that saw its first-half sales in the country surge 53 percent year on year to reach 301,524 units.

Such explosive growth in China coincided with deep gloom in the United States where consumers hunkered down in the wake of the recession.

Also, as a vivid illustration of how fast the axis of the global auto industry is shifting eastward, China toppled the United States earlier this year from its decades-long position as the world's largest auto market.