GM posts 2016 delivery record in China; 3.87M vehicles, more than 1/3 of global sales
06 January 2017
General Motors and its joint ventures delivered a record 3,870,587 vehicles in China in 2016, which was an increase of 7.1% from the previous high in 2015. China remained GM’s largest market in terms of retail sales for the fifth consecutive year, accounting for more than one-third of the company’s global sales. For comparison, GM brands reported retail sales in the US of 2,446,582 vehicles for CY 2016.
Last year, GM launched 13 new and refreshed models in China, putting it on track to fulfill its plan to introduce 60 models through 2020. It is focused on the luxury, SUV and MPV segments. About 40% of GM’s product launches in China through 2020 will be SUVs and MPVs.
GM’s strategy in China follows the company’s two-pronged strategy to strengthen and grow its core business, and to define and lead the future of personal mobility by creating new technology and business models.
With successful launches of the CT6 prestige sedan and XT5 luxury crossover last year, Cadillac deliveries topped 100,000 units in China for the first time—increasing 46% year over year to 116,406 units.
Buick posted record sales, supported by popular products like the Excelle GT sedan and Envision SUV. This drove the brand's sales to a new high of 1,180,372 units, an increase of 19% on an annual basis.
Chevrolet deliveries, after a rebound starting in the third quarter, reached 525,273 units in 2016. The newly launched Malibu XL, Cruze and Cavalier sedans drove the brand through its model changeover period. GM announced in October that Chevrolet will introduce more than 20 new or refreshed products in China by the end of 2020.
Baojun enjoyed robust momentum in 2016 with strong products like the 730 MPV and 560 SUV, supplemented by the successful launch of the Baojun 310 hatchback. The brand’s annual deliveries rose 49% to a record 688,390 units.
Wuling maintained its dominant position in the mini-commercial vehicle market last year, though its growth was hampered by continued segment contraction. Wuling deliveries totaled 1,359,638 units.
In 2016, GM’s SUV deliveries surged 45% from a year earlier to 673,409 units. Its SUV portfolio includes the Buick Envision and Baojun 560, which were among the segment leaders with year-on-year growth of 52% and 116% respectively.
In the MPV segment, GM’s sales increased 5% to 1,061,156 units in 2016. The new-generation GL8 reached the market in November, setting a new benchmark for large luxury MPVs.
In 2016, GM reiterated its strategy to define and lead in personal mobility through the four pillars of alternative propulsion, connectivity, autonomous driving and sharing.
GM launched three models with electrification technology in the domestic market in 2016: the Buick LaCrosse Hybrid, Chevrolet Malibu XL Hybrid and Cadillac CT6 Plug-In. In addition, GM will fully localize its battery packs for new energy vehicles via investment in a battery assembly plant in Shanghai through SAIC-GM.
In 2016, GM was one of the first automakers to demonstrate the interoperability of a China connected vehicle (V2X) application layer standard. It also demonstrated eight safety applications for its latest intelligent and connected vehicle (ICV) technology applications at the National Intelligent and Connected Vehicle Pilot Zone in Shanghai.
GM is one of the authors of the China Intelligent and Connected Vehicle Road Map, which provides a guideline for the research and development activities of manufacturers and future policy development. The Road Map was released in October.
At the end of 2016, Shanghai OnStar had nearly 1 million active users in China. It has offered customer interaction service more than 300 million times over the years. By 2020, all Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet models will be connected in China.
Starting from January 1, 2017, all new vehicles featuring OnStar in China are enjoying five years of free basic service, up from one year, providing users a smart transportation solution and a connected lifestyle.
China is already the world’s largest economy in terms of industrial production. It only lacks behind the US in terms of production of services like health care. However, China’s pollution problems will bring their economic growth to an abrupt halt as more people get sick and die of pollution induced illnesses. China has an ongoing cancer epidemic and an epidemic of respiratory illnesses. They have to do something about it quickly and it is necessary to use much more environmental regulation that will raise the direct cost of their industrial production. Their current industrial production is clearly unsustainable and will lead to the destruction of the country. People are dying and agricultural land is lost permanently to pollution and erosion. Trump will demand a renegotiation of the free trade terms with China so US companies get the exact same access to China’s make as China has to the US. China has a rule that in order to sell import tax free in China some 80% of the value added needed to be produced in China. I think the Trump administration will require the same from China and thereby force Chinese companies to build factories in the US in order to sell Chinese products in the US. I think global trade will be reorganized along these lines that 80% of the value added must be locally produced or very high import taxes will apply.
Same goes for oil and gas. Imported oil and gas must be taxed in order to promote domestic production. If a Saudi oil company want to sell oil or gasoline in the US they need to drill it in the US and refine it in the US.
Posted by: Account Deleted | 06 January 2017 at 01:27 AM
Nobody is going to force China to do anything.
And they are putting hundreds of billions of dollars into renewables by 2020, so there is no way that they can do much more to decrease fossil fuel use, although of course in such a vast and swift moving program waste and wrong decisions are inevitable.
Home for a company is where the sales are, and GM is surely swiftly moving to be as Chinese as possible, and hoping desperately that Trump does not make their US origins an impossible liability.
That is not to say that everyone should simply just roll over for the Chinese dragon, but policies and the extent to which pressure can be applied has to be realistic.
They have all the incentive going to clean up now, just as The US did when they realised how badly they had screwed up their natural environment circa 1970, and like the US then they now have the technology to do something about it, and the money too,
Posted by: Davemart | 06 January 2017 at 02:09 AM
Sure, but China will have to pay the import taxes that other countries require them to pay for their import as other countries are required to pay China for importing stuff to China. Tesla is taxed by over 100% for their China export because Tesla currently does not have any production in China. So for Tesla it will be a priority to establish Chinese production in order to compete in the Chinese market.
I do not blame China for their policy of >80% must be made in China or the product will be slammed by a huge import tax<. I think that policy is prudent and that all countries should copy it on most products and services in order to secure large local production. It is better for the environment if global trade of physical goods is reduced to a minimum because more is produced locally and we also create a system that is more robust to major natural disasters or war that can block international trade. The transition to a fossil free economy also means that global trade of oil, gas and coal will disappear and that in itself will diminish international trade. We can transfer money and knowhow freely over borders but physical goods should mostly be made locally. This I believe will be the >new international trade world order< and it will be initiated by the new Trump administration. It will however take decades to be fully realized.
Tesla is showing that labor costs are no longer important for super modern physical product production as very little labor is used per USD created. For example the new Giga factory will employ 7000 people that make 10 billion USD worth’s of products per year. If they are paid 70k USD each it is still only 420 million USD per year so labor cost is not important for the cost of the products made. So we can do this transition to local production without risking drastic cost increases in the products. However, it will take time and we need to use robots like never before.
Posted by: Account Deleted | 06 January 2017 at 03:03 AM
The same 80% American content in imported and/or made in USA products would re-open many thousand new local factories and put 25,000,000 people back to work?
However, it will have to be done in a timely manner to ensure that the local facilities and trained staff exist or could be installed quickly enough.
Many existing trade treaties will have to be modified or nullified.
Is 4 year enough to do it? DT may have to be re-elected in 2000?
Posted by: HarveyD | 17 January 2017 at 08:09 AM