Hanoi, Nov 17. (AP): General Motors Corp., seeing its market share shrink at home is turning to Asia to boost sales, and aims to capture 10 per cent of the region's market by 2010, the US autmaker's regional chief said today.

Top target markets are China and India, where rapid economic growth is ueling demand for cars, said Nick Reilly, resident of GM Asia Pacific.

GM aims to sell 1.3 million vehicles in Asia this year to grab a 6.5 percent market share, two-thirds of which is expected to come from China, he said. Last year, GM's sales hit just over 1 million units in Asia for the first time, giving it a market share of 5.7 per cent.

China's booming market is GM's main focus in the region but the company plans to also expand capacity in India, South Korea and other Southeast Asian nations including Malaysia and Indonesia, Reilly told The Associated Press in an interview on the sidelines of a regional business forum here.

"We hope to increase our market share from 6.5 per cent to nearer 10 per cent over the next five years," said Reill, who was appointed as GM Vice Pesident and put in chrge of the Asia-Pacific market in July.

"We think that in 1 years' time, China market may well be the largest in the world, overaking the US ... so to win in Asia-Pacific, you really have to win in China," he said.