BEIJING, May 6 (Reuters) - General Motors Co and its Chinese joint ventures sold 278,263 vehicles in China in April, up 6.3 percent from a year earlier, the U.S. automaker said on Tuesday.

The company's sales in the first four months of the year came to 1,197,375 vehicles, up 11 percent from the same period a year earlier.

GM makes vehicles in China in partnership with FAW Group and SAIC Motor Corp Ltd.

(Reporting by Jonathan Standing; Editing by Sunil Nair)