China: GM may sell record 1m units

[BusyBody]

By Gong Zhengzheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-04-19 08:34





The World's top automaker General Motors is looking at its China sales to exceed 1 million vehicles this year, encouraged by a strong first-quarter performance.
The US group's China chief Kevin Wale told China Daily: "Although I cannot discuss our precise sales projections for competitive reasons, I can tell you that we expect our sales this year in China to surpass 1 million units for the first time."
If the plan materializes, GM will be the first foreign automaker to hit the 1-million-a-year mark in the world's second-biggest vehicle market since China allowed overseas companies to assemble cars locally in the early 1980s. The Detroit-based carmaker last year moved 876,747 vehicles in China, ranking No 1, followed by Germany's Volkswagen. From January to March this year, GM's China sales jumped by a quarter to 291,588 units from a year earlier.


more at link


http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchin...ent_854016.htm

[Explorer4x4]

Well gee, thats pretty neat-o.

[GotAWD]

as long as they keep ahead of the BIG T. its all good.

[jason4225]

Even though the sales aren't doing great here in the U.S., it sounds like GM is doing pretty good in many other areas of the world. It will be interesting to see the sales figures for 2007 when it is all over.

[rueben44]

Very nice....will GM stay number one? It looks like it is possible.

[mkaresh]

GM's Chinese sales are not growing as quickly as Toyota's sales elsewhere.

Also, I read the other day that GM was third in sales in China in the most recent period, behind Chery and VW.

[MOGI]

Originally Posted by rueben44

Very nice....will GM stay number one? It looks like it is possible.

I'm sure they will...at least for 07' if not longer. It'll be intresting to see what exactly it is they (GM) has up their sleeve with Buick in China, and it's trickle down to the US markets. I for one am confident Chinese products will come to the US. Off topic a bit (i Know), but China is the most rapidly evolving Auto market in the world. If it works there, it may just work here, The concepts, and SLS are proof (we all love them)...

sorry for the rambling...

[iam3rdpwrn]

How are Chrysler & Ford doing over there? Is GM ahead of Toyota?

[andy82471]

Originally Posted by MOGI

I'm sure they will...at least for 07' if not longer. It'll be intresting to see what exactly it is they (GM) has up their sleeve with Buick in China, and it's trickle down to the US markets. I for one am confident Chinese products will come to the US. Off topic a bit (i Know), but China is the most rapidly evolving Auto market in the world. If it works there, it may just work here, The concepts, and SLS are proof (we all love them)...

sorry for the rambling...

GM's chance of staying number 1 this year is almost next to none. GM's gain in China, India, Latin America, and the Middle East will be greatly offset by their loss in their home market plus western Europe and Australia. The biggest difference between GM and TOYOTA is that they are growing everywhere.

[nadepalma]

Great news overall -- I Guess the General doesn't have ALL bad news. Keep the momentum going...and more so for the Chevy and Buick brands!

Originally Posted by iam3rdpwrn

How are Chrysler & Ford doing over there? Is GM ahead of Toyota?

Chrysler is basically non-existant over there. They are just about the launch the Dodge brand over there. The Chrysler and Jeep brands exist in that market, but arne't big players.

As for Ford, I'd surmise that they have a larger presence than Chrysler's brands, but not nearly as large as GM or VW. They sound as though they are just about to give the market a real run, but with their problems here at home, not sure if the funds are there to expand as of now...

[chinamonty]

Ford have a presence here with the Mondeo, Focus and Licoln navigator being the main ones with S-Max starting to be popular. They also sell a heap of Transits mainly in bus configuration around Shenzhen anyway. Fords website is only in Chinese so i wont post a link.
Chrysler as you say aren't big players except for the Grand voyager -I see quite a few of them around and I was up in Chengdu and saw four of them parked together. Jeeps are not uncommon and the 300C is selling. They also purport to sell the Cruiser here but I haven't seen one.
http://www.chrysler.com.cn/en/overview.html
Speaking of Daimler Chrysler I also saw a Maybach there which I had never seen before. Someone has some money!

[racy]

Originally Posted by BusyBody

The World's top automaker General Motors is looking at its China sales to exceed 1 million vehicles this year, encouraged by a strong first-quarter performance.
The US group's China chief Kevin Wale told China Daily: "Although I cannot discuss our precise sales projections for competitive reasons, I can tell you that we expect our sales this year in China to surpass 1 million units for the first time."
If the plan materializes, GM will be the first foreign automaker to hit the 1-million-a-year mark in the world's second-biggest vehicle market since China allowed overseas companies to assemble cars locally in the early 1980s.

This is all find and dandy for GM, but we must remember that the more cars sold in China and India, the higher our gas prices will be here at home.

While on one hand, GM's asian sales buttress sagging sales in North America, on the other hand GM's products in North America are being hurt by their low MPG ratings. Now that the IndoChinese are coming into the modern industrial age, energy consumption by those two forces rivals, and will soon surpass that of the United States. Things were great for 50 years, when we and the Europeans were the only oil consumers. Today, not so much. The thirst for oil in Asia is killing us.

We are likely to experience some significant changes in lifestyle if we don't come up with another plan, other than oil - and quick like.

[redimpss5]

If you need to buy a car, I guess you need to buy a good one. We buy Chinese items and with all they money they make, the buy cool American cars!

[tgagneguam]

I'm glad GM is finding success in China, though I hope GM takes this news as evidence that it should pour on the investment turbo.

Originally Posted by rueben44

....will GM stay number one?

Unlikely.

Originally Posted by mkaresh

Also, I read the other day that GM was third in sales in China in the most recent period, behind Chery and VW.

This is new (and concerning). Care to expand on this?

[supermoto]

Originally Posted by mkaresh

GM's Chinese sales are not growing as quickly as Toyota's sales elsewhere.

Also, I read the other day that GM was third in sales in China in the most recent period, behind Chery and VW.

Apparently you didn't read the first post in this thread. The parts where GM is #1 and the part where GM will be the first automaker to surpass 1 million should be a clue that they are not in third place.

No matter what positive news comes out about GM, the haters need to make it negative with the truth or not.