BEIJING, May 7 (Reuters) - General Motors and its Chinese joint ventures sold 258,484 vehicles in China in April, down 0.4 percent from a year earlier, the U.S. automaker said on Thursday.

GM for the first time reported retail sales to customers rather than wholesale vehicle sales to dealers. Retail figures are generally viewed as a more accurate gauge of consumer demand.

Under the previous methodology, the automaker had reported an 8 percent year-on-year rise in March and a 1.3 percent increase in February.

(Reporting by Jake Spring; Editing by Stephen Coates)