The Unthinkable Happens: TTAC Salutes GM, Three Times

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Already pronounced shot by a bursting bubble, the Chinese new car market most likely will be up when the May numbers will be announced later in the month. How do we know? By looking at GM’s China May sales results that were announced today. When we do that, we will do something that TTAC allegedly is incapable of: We will salute and applaud GM. Three times.

General Motors and its joint ventures sold 231,183 vehicles in China in May, up 21.3 percent from the same month in 2011.

Shanghai GM’s domestic sales rose 7.1 percent. SAIC-GM-Wuling sold 127,749 vehicles in China, up a surprising 35.9 percent year on year.

Congratulations, GM. Congratulations especially for the huge gain at Wuling, which looked anemic for many months.

And a big congratulation goes out to GM for not trying to spin the numbers when they are down, as GM was wont to do in the past. Says a GM press release:

“FAW-GM sold 3,756 vehicles in the domestic market last month, down 0.7 percent from last May.”

“Buick sales totaled 51,360 units in May, down 1.2 percent from the same month last year.”

“Cadillac sales were down 2.2 percent on an annual basis to 2,205 units.”

For the first five months of 2012 GM China sold 1,203,552 vehicles in China, an increase of 11.5 percent year on year. This is even more respectable when you consider that the Chinese car market as a whole was down 1.3 percent for the January-April period. With these results, there is no need to be ashamed of a few Buicks less.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

More by Bertel Schmitt

Comments
Join the conversation
9 of 27 comments
  • GarbageMotorsCo. GarbageMotorsCo. on Jun 05, 2012

    I've been giving Government Motors the one finger salute everytime I drive by the dealership that sold me my last to lemon pickups or the other 3 that could fix either of them! Those idiots couldn't change a lightbulb if they wanted to and their arrogant sales goons didn't make things any better.

  • Challenger2012 Challenger2012 on Jun 05, 2012

    Mr. Garbage. I would hazard a guess that GM has changed its ways since the last time you purchased a PU. GM might not have been able to build a car, but SUV's and PU's they certainly could. I had a company car, a 2007 Impala. I was a v-6 ,4 speed auto that got into the low 30’s on the highway. I was quite and comfortable. I even offered to buy with when I left my company. Now the dealer is another story. I have to add that most are scum.

    • See 4 previous
    • Kenzter Kenzter on Jun 06, 2012

      @highdesertcat Where to begin... GM has no equivalent to the Chrysler or Toyota V6? Ever hear of the Camaro 3.6L V6 with 323hp? 300hp in the Impala? Both with 5yr/100k mile powertrain warranties? And your basing your Chevy truck experience on something built in the 80's. Even the biggest GM fanbois (which I'm really not) will admit that was the dark days of GM. My '04 Silverado with the 4.8 V8 has been flawless over 136k miles. Never had any warranty work. Didn't even eplace the rear brake pads until 108k miles. My only non-maintenance item was blower motor relay, around 125k miles. A $28 part and half hour of my time. I'm glad you like your Tundra, but your comparing vehicles that are what, 23 years apart? Pushrod engines are smaller, so the weight difference isn't that significant. And finally, do you even understand why GMC exists? It is so Buick and Caddy dealers can sell trucks, without carrying the entire Chevy line. And they sell a lot of them. I'm sure the notorious GM bean counters know something you don't.

  • Motorhead10 Motorhead10 on Jun 06, 2012

    somebody help me understand - I mean I get the importance of a presence in China. But...as per the JV agreements - GM reports all the unit volume, none of the revenue, and equity income equal to the stake in the partnership. So looking at 1Q12 as an example, GM reported operating income of $2.0b in GMNA. For GMIO, which China is 70% of volume, total operating income was $529 million (so lets estimate $400 million in op inc in China - it may be in the Q, I haven't looked). On an operating profit basis, GMNA is 3 to 4 times as big. So back of the envelope, if GM keeps approximately the same market share, China would have to become about a 60+ million unit per year market just to earn the same as GMNA at the operating line? Seems to me China is a volume story, not a profit story. Not hating on or a fanboi of GM (I own two - one good, one not so good). Just seems to me - maintaining GMNA or fixing (or exiting) GME would have considerably more per vehicle bottom line impact for the company. What am I missing?

  • Cleatus Cleatus on Jun 07, 2012

    Lol! Are you kidding me? You guys are all domestic fanboys on this site. Any chance you get to prop up a domestic automaker youll be there.

Next