No Shocking news: GM sells more cars in China than it does in the USA

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The Chinese car market was vital to GM’s survival in the past few years, it was clear that without positive revenue streams from a red hot Chinese market that GM would have suffered a great deal during the turmoil of 2008 and 2009 in its mature markets in Europe and America.

GM’s China sales hit 2.35 million vehicles in 2010 whilst GM’s home market saw sales of 2.2 million vehicles, the Chinese market grew by 29% but slow growth in the US market caused sales to slow to just 6% in 2010. With its Chinese partner, Shanghai Automobile Industry Corporation, (SAIC), GM has been able to try out risky new ideas to push cars to each market segment; it creates business use cars for business users, it creates funky cars to trap younger buyers and also managed to redevelop its core brands in the Chinese market to cater for a very different audience.

Whilst GM might offer trucks to Chevrolet buyers in America, Chinese Chevrolet buyers are mostly economy buyers that are out for a good buy on a budget – of course GM can deliver. The Buick brand has had a taste of the defibrillator at the hands of Shanghai-GM also, whilst Buick was once a staid old brand for silver haired warriors and coffin dodgers in the USA, it gained new life in China by wielding Opel products under Buick’s badges creating a perfect master piece of badge engineering, of course they also developed the GL8 MPV locally which suited business users and governmental users tastes down to a tee. Now GM are taking their Buick lesson back to the USA where it appears to be resonating with a whole new consumer.

The Pick-Up truck is the quint essential All American product, if you think of American motoring you at least think of a Dodge SRT500. GM doesn’t sell trucks in China, there is no need for full size trucks but they do make Light Commercial Vehicles with its other partner, First Automobile Works (FAW). GM and FAW have a joint venture where GM supplies chassis and technical know how to FAW, and FAW produces FAW branded LCV’s for the Chinese market, the first of which was the Jiefang (Liberation) 501 van. There is no need for the GMC brand in China – yet. GMC vans are imported into China by an independent Chinese company that is separate from GM China.

For GM this maybe the first time that they have sold more vehicles in a foreign country than their home market, but it won’t be the last. GM already has stakes in other fast developing markets such as India and Latin America, these markets are expected to see rapid growth in the next few years and will no doubt further GM’s fortunes.