General Motors Co. (GM, Financial) announced Monday it plans to introduce no less than 20 new models in China in 2019.
The Chinese auto industry may be facing headwinds currently, but the Detroit-based automaker continues to remain bullish on the Asian country as it is keen on tapping into budding opportunities in the new energy market. In a statement, Matt Tsien, executive vice president and president of GM China, commented on the initiative.
“China's vehicle market has entered a new era of high-quality development, in which product and service excellence will be the key to sustained growth,” he said. “GM will continue to optimize our product mix, backed by our industry-leading technologies and adjacent services, and explore more opportunities in electrification and autonomous driving.”
Future course of action
The new models are part of the auto company’s efforts to introduce a total of 60 new vehicles by 2020 in China. Since Asian consumers are increasingly demanding electric cars, the company would produce no less than 10 new energy vehicles out of the 60 new cars in the coming two years.
In a nutshell, the company’s primary goal is to meet country-wide demand for its cars by speeding up product launches.
How did the brands fare in China?
The company sold more than 3.64 million vehicles in China in 2018.
For the first time, Cadillac managed to sell more than 200,000 units thanks to successful launches and sudden outburst of demand for the all-new XT4 luxury SUV, refreshed XTS luxury sedan and CT6 flagship sedan.
Buick deliveries amounted to more than 1 million vehicles in 2018. This wasn’t a surprise considering China happens to be the brand's largest market in terms of volume. Owing to large sales volumes of the Excelle GT sedan and continued popularity of the GL6 and GL8 in the China MPV market, the brand ended the year on a high note.
Chevrolet sales came in at 523,395 units for the year. The company cited heavy sales of Equinox global SUV (up 50%) and Malibu XL flagship sedan (up 25%) as reasons for the brand’s annual growth.
Baojun sales stood at 839,612 units. Baojun 510 continued its dominance in the SUV segment. On the other hand, 530 compact SUV sales were also impressive during the year.
Wuling sales totaled more than 1 million units as it saw big gains in the mini-commercial vehicle market. Meanwhile, the company delivered a solid performance in the passenger car segment.
Disclosure: I do not hold any positions in the stocks mentioned.
Read more here:
