General Motors Corp signed a deal worth more than US$800 million on Monday to export Buick Enclave sport utility vehicles (SUV) to China over a four-year period beginning in 2008.

Under the deal, GM will send 5,000 of the SUVs to China each year, boosting the automaker's presence in the world's fastest-growing vehicle market. GM is the market leader in China and sold 876,747 vehicles there in 2006.

The vehicles will be imported by GM's local partner, Shanghai-based SAIC Motor Corp, and sold through its network of nearly 400 Buick dealerships in China.

The Enclave, a luxury crossover SUV which debuted this year, is built at GM's Delta Township assembly plant near Lansing, Michigan.

In May, GM signed a deal to export US$700 million worth of Cadillacs and automotive components to China from the US. The Detroit-based automaker said its China operations already have imported about US$3.5 billion worth of vehicles, components, equipment and machinery from North America during the past decade.