GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., said Friday its sales jumped 74 percent last month from a year earlier, driven by strong shipments.

GM Korea sold a total of 31,716 vehicles in August, up from 18,208 units a year ago on robust sales of the Trailblazer compact SUV, the company said in a statement.

Domestic sales fell 8.2 percent on-year to 3,297 units last month from 3,590, while exports soared 94 percent to 28,419 from 14,618 over the cited period, it said.

From January to August, its sales surged 72 percent to 286,727 autos from 166,745 units in the same period of last year.

Domestic sales rose 5.8 percent to 26,424 in the first eight months from 24,973 a year ago, while exports soared 84 percent to 260,303 from 141,772.

In a two-track strategy, GM Korea sells domestically produced and imported vehicles in Asia's fourth-biggest economy.

Its lineup is composed of two locally assembled models, the Trailblazer SUV and the Trax Crossover, and six imported ones -- the Colorado pickup, the Bolt all-electric car, and the Equinox, Traverse and Tahoe SUVs, as well as the GMC brand's Sierra Denali pickup.

The Spark mini car, Trax compact SUV and the Malibu midsize sedan were part of the lineup, but the company stopped their production last year.

Most of the models currently sold in South Korea are from the Chevrolet brand. The Cadillac brand models are available here as well.

GM Korea plans to add more GMC brand models to its lineup, depending on market demand.

Source: Yonhap News Agency