GM recently underwent a restructuring which formed the ‘New GM’ and will hopefully take it out of bankruptcy over the next couple of years. One of the most interesting aspects of the internal reshuffle is the the shift of power from Detroit to Shanghai.

Under the new plan, Opel will continue to be run from Germany, and GM USA will be responsible for the North American market but all other international markets will answer to Shanghai-GM from now on.

GM is hoping to lean on Shanghai-GM’s experience in turning poor sales into excellent sales, as Shanghai-GM’s sales grew 42.8% in the first seven months of 2009 with total sales reaching 959,035 vehicles from January to July 2009 also Shanghai-GM’s July sales were up by 77% to 144,593 units. The upcoming international department of Shanghai-GM is expected to match GM’s Detroit base in terms of importance over the next few years and will most probably the be the dynamic drive behind any ‘New GM’

What we will see more of on the international scale is Shanghai-GM’s experience in taking the right cars from the GM portfolio and matching them up to the right brand (Buick, Chevrolet etc) to give consumers a sense of ‘buying American‘ but on a budget.