GM President Mark Reuss announced on January 27, 2020 a $2.2 billion investment in the automaker's Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant in Michigan for new all-electric trucks and autonomous vehicles.
Michael Wayland/CNBC
DETROIT – General engines believes it can regain market share in China after hitting a 20-year low last year amid changing market conditions and increased domestic competition, GM President Mark Reuss said Thursday.
The longtime GM executive said new all-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, as well as the redesign of the Buick brand, will help the automaker transform its business in the region.
GM's market share in China, including its joint ventures, has plummeted from about 15% in 2015 to 8.6% last year – the first time it has fallen below 9% since 2003. GM's revenue from the operations has also fallen, by 78.5%. % since the peak in 2014, according to regulatory filings.
Reuss also praised the competitiveness of GM's Chinese joint venture partners such as Wuling Motors. GM first established operations in China in 1997.
“You can look at it all you want from a larger geopolitical point of view, but for us in China this has been a great advantage to work so closely with our JV partners there for so many years,” Reuss said at the meeting. Financial Times Future of the car top. “We have an advantage there with Buick and Wuling, and it works both ways.”
GM's decline in market share in China is the result of growing competition from government-backed domestic automakers, fueled by nationalism and a generational shift in consumer perceptions of the auto industry and electric vehicles. The company, along with other American automakers, is managing geopolitical tensions between China and the US
GM's U.S.-based brands, such as Buick and Chevrolet, have seen Chinese sales decline more than those of the joint venture. The joint venture models accounted for about 60% of GM's 2.1 million vehicles sold in China last year.
The market declines have raised questions about whether GM would exit China, as it has in other underperforming markets in recent years.
Reuss said Thursday that GM plans to remain in China “for the foreseeable future.”
GM CEO Mary Barra told investors in February that “nothing is off the table to ensure GM has a strong future to generate the right profitability and returns for our investors” in China.
GM announced a “leadership transition” in China on Tuesday. The automaker said Steve Hill, currently GM's vice president of global commercial operations, will succeed GM China President Julian Blissett effective June 1.