Executives at the Shanghai auto show gave strong voice to the industry's increasing view of China as its key market.

General Motors Corp. (GM)'s top executive for the Asia-Pacific region said China is one of the "centerpieces" for the Detroit auto maker's future as it tries to accelerate its restructuring plans for survival.

The comments by the GM executive, Nick Reilly, followed remarks by a Honda Motor Co. (HMC) executive that the market focus for global auto makers is shifting increasingly to China thanks to the severe slowdown in the U.S.

"We are seeing a major shift in the battleground within the global automobile market from the U.S. to China," Atsuyoshi Hyogo, head of the Japanese auto maker's China operations, said at the Shanghai auto show, which itself is taking on increasing prominence.

Auto sales in China are showing surprising resilience. Chinese consumers are proving particularly responsive to government stimulus initiatives to boost spending, such as tax cuts and other subsidies on auto purchases.

In March, vehicle sales climbed 5% to a record 1.11 million vehicles, not only benefiting luxury brands like Mercedes and Audi AG, who rang up their highest-ever China sales that month, but also boosting struggling global carmakers like General Motors Corp.

In contrast, March sales fell 30% in the U.S. and 32% in Japan.

GM's Reilly said GM needs to be an "industry leader" in China if it wants to remain a leader in the global auto marketplace.

Reilly said GM is racing to come up with a new, updated "viability plan" in an effort to avoid bankruptcy but noted that the company is weighing "several scenarios" to come out of the bankruptcy process as a stronger company, if it becomes necessary for GM to pursue restructuring moves in court.

Despite its troubles around the world, Reilly said GM's business in China is profitable and remains largely "unaffected" by the global slowdown since last year. GM has "a positive outlook" for both China and the rest of the Asia-Pacific region, said Reilly.

Kevin Wale, head of GM's China operations, said the American auto maker expects China's overall auto market to continue to grow steadily over the next several years, if slower than the double-digit growth the market registered over the past decade. According to Wale, the China auto market should grow 7% to 8% on average every year over the next five to six years.

Wale reiterated GM plans to double its sales to 2 million vehicles over the next five years and said that the company most likely would need to build another auto plan to achieve that sales target.

Last year, GM's sales in China rose 6% to 1,094,561 vehicles, including sales of micro minivans made with Wuling Automobile Co., one of its Chinese partners.

GM operates five plants in China with its joint-venture partner SAIC Motor Corp. GM also has two additional plants run by a separate, three-way venture GM jointly operates with SAIC and Wuling.

Robert Graziano, head of Ford Motor (China) Ltd., declined to disclose Ford's sales target in China this year, but said overall sales in China's auto market are likely to show high single-digit percentage growth this year.

"Our desire is to at least meet industry growth and ideally exceed industry growth," he said.

Graziano said the March introduction of the Fiesta sedan and hatchback, which qualify for the government's purchase tax cut, will lift Ford's China sales.

Among Japanese auto makers who spoke at the auto show, Nissan Motor Co. (NSANY) Senior Vice President Andy Palmer said Nissan could exceed its 2009 sales target of 570,000 vehicles, representing 4.6% growth, given its 9% sales increase in the first quarter in the country amid firm demand for its compact cars.

The full-year sales growth target is relatively modest compared with 2008, when Nissan's sales rose 19% to 545,000 vehicles. Palmer said the full-year target is conservative because Nissan expects the effect of the government's stimulus package to wane later this year.

"Our hope is [the stimulus plan] will kick-start the economy, supporting confined growth in sales," he said. "But whether [first-quarter sales] was a spike or signals continued growth, that's a debate."

The Japanese car maker has a joint venture in China with Dongfeng Motor Corp.

Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) President Katsuaki Watanabe said Toyota plans to produce and sell its Camry Hybrid sedan in China in the near future, company.

The hybrid sedan will follow its flagship Prius and hybrid versions of the Lexus LS, GS and RX introduced in China, he said.

"There will be no future without environmental technology," Watanabe said. To further beef up its low-emission lineup in China, the company is considering selling plug-in hybrids in China on a trial basis, the executive said, without elaborating.

The world's biggest car maker by volume already plans to bring plug-in hybrid cars in major markets such as Japan and the U.S.

The comments come at a crucial time for Toyota, which aims to lift its sales in China "slightly" from its sales in 2008.

Toyota operates Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co., which is a joint venture with FAW Group Corp., and Guangzhou Toyota Motor Co., another joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co.

Meanwhile, Ian Robertson, executive board member of BMW AG (BMW.XE), said demand in China's automobile market may be flat in the second and third quarters of this year, but will likely pick up in the last three months of the year.

Sales of BMW and its Mini brand vehicles in China in the first quarter rose 14% from a year earlier to 16,580 units, outperforming the 3.9% growth in China's auto market over the same period.

"We've recently increased our production [in China] from 30,000 units to well above 40,000 units. We also increased our local purchasing volume by 22%," Robertson said.

The German auto maker also unveiled a new model in its 7 Series at the Shanghai auto show Monday. The BMW 760 Li sedan has a 6-liter, 12 cylinder engine. Robertson said China will likely be the vehicle's biggest market.

"We see in China large engines have a very strong following," he said.

In the first quarter, its rival, Daimler AG, sold 11,100 Mercedes-Benz brand passenger cars in mainland China, a 30% increase from the same period a year earlier.

"The premium car market in China has really only taken off in the last few years. Therefore we believe it will grow faster relative to other parts of the world," Robertson said.

Premium vehicles account for about 5% of China's auto market, according to data from BMW.

GM's joint-venture partner SAIC, China's biggest car maker by sales, said sales of its own brand cars were up four times in the first quarter from a year earlier to 180,000. Chairman Hu Maoyuan also said SAIC has unveiled three new models of energy-efficient cars, one of which, called ROEWE 750, is set to hit the market by the end of next year.

Chinese auto maker BYD Co. said it aims to double vehicle sales to 400,000 units this year from a year earlier and that it also plans to launch five new models this year.

- By Norihiko Shirouzu and Patricia Jiayi Ho, Dow Jones Newswires; norihiko.shirouzu@wsj.com

(Yoshio Takhashi and Joy C. Shaw contributed to this article.)