The leading U.S. automaker, General Motors (GM, Financial), is solidifying its presence in the world’s largest automotive market, China.
The company, with its joint ventures, recorded deliveries of 343,773 vehicles to China in September, an improvement of 16% year over year. General Motors tasted success across most of its brands that saw scintillating sales during the month.
Matt Tsien, GM executive vice president and GM China president, said, “The growth in demand last month was supported by improving product mix.”
He said, “We saw strong sales momentum across our brands, especially Cadillac in the luxury segment.”
As far as General Motors’ retail sales during the January-September period are concerned, the company sold 2,718,315 vehicles, up 9% from last year's comparable period.
Strengthening China operations
Chevrolet posted a sales gain of 2.6% to 51,932 units for the month of September, thereby making this the second successive months of sales growth. The brand’s sales were mainly powered by Cruze; it sold more than 23,000 units. In view of maximizing its sales in China, Chevrolet had started increasing its portfolio by launching the Cavalier compact family sedan and is also looking forward to introducing the 2018 Chevy Equinox crossover in November.
Buick’s sales in September, too, were strong as the company delivered 108,325 vehicles under the brand in September, up 23% from last year. The sales gain was attributable to the robust demand for Excelle GT whose monthly average from January to September stood at nearly 30,000 units. Envision crossover sales spiked 70% to 18,518 units. Moreover, sales of Verano family were well over 15,000 units.
Baojun also witnessed positive sales figures. Total sales for the month amounted to 62,719 units in September year over year, up 33%. Baojun 730 MPV witnessed soaring demand with sales surging 45%. Baojun’s latest launch, the 310 hatchback, early in the previous month also put up a good show as deliveries exceeded 5,000 units.
Cadillac turned out to be the company’s key driving force as sales for the brand spiked 63% to 12,539 vehicles compared with last year. September was the third straight month the brand’s sales grew more than 50%. Cadillac XT5 luxury crossover sold more than 4,000 units. ATS-L and XTS luxury sedans witnessed strong demand in September. Cadillac’s sales until September surged an impressive 35%, delivering more than 77,000 units when compared with the same period in the previous year.
Wuling’s China sales also looked incredible with sales surging 6% to 108,225 units. This month marks Wuling’s fourth straight month of sales growth. Demand for the Hong Guang family was high.
Last word
The company’s performance on the whole has been impressive when it comes to sales volume, particularly considering that 2016 has been a tough year as far as pricing is concerned. China’s domestic players are giving its foreign counterparts tough competition by offering vehicles at competitive rates. General Motors has been facing pricing pressure in certain segments, which is impacting the Detroit player’s bottom line.
However, whether high volumes help General Motors depends on the pricing strategy adopted by the company. It would be interesting to see how these factors impact General Motors’ third-quarter results which are expected later this month.
Disclosure: I do not hold any position in the stock/s discussed in this article.
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