GM China Speaks: Chinese Market Alive And Well
Our patent-pending China sales oracle has spoken, and it says. The only bubbles in China are in the heads of some self-styled experts.
Looking at the June and half year results of GM China, one can only conclude that all is well in the Middle Kingdom. What’s good for GM China is good for America: China is GM’s largest market. GM’s sales in China are up 9.9 percent in June and 5.3 percent for the half year. But there is a much more important lesson:
Shanghai GM’s June sales are up a whopping 41.4 percent from a red-hot June 2010. In the first half of the year, sales of Shanghai GM were up 25 percent. As mentioned ad nauseam by yours truly, what is dragging the GM numbers down (but not out) are Wuling and FAW-GM, which suffer from a very soft commercial vehicle market.
June ’11June ’10ChangeYTDChangeShanghai GM101,52471,78241.4%600,00225.00%Chevrolet51,31238,30434.0%297,84114.50%Buick54,14036,48648.4%324,91928.20%Cadillac2,7221,81250.2%14,07888.30%Wuling88,02799,115-11.2%641,324-5.40%FAW-GM4,3275,220-17.1%30,332-38.80%All GM JV193,878176,4869.9%1,273,5025.30%Kudos where kudos are due: GM is receptive to the criticisms from us and other media and is no longer spinning negative numbers. This time, GM could say “SAIC-GM-Wuling’s sales decreased 11.2 percent to 88,027 units” and the sky did not fall. One number is missing, that of FAW-GM, we calculated that (marked grey) by using the difference of the reported total and the reported sales of the other JVs.
From what I had been hearing from other manufacturers, the passenger vehicle market in China is fine, it is the commercial vehicles that are taking a breather after massive subsidies last year.
The year-to-date numbers are all as reported. Left-brainiacs may note a difference of 1,844 between the reported total of 1,273,502 units and the sum of all JVs.
Imported Opels perhaps?
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.
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Sales of Chevy's, Buick's and Cadillac's are much more profitable for GM than the Wuling vans. GM would rather sell one Buick/Chevy than 2 wuling vans. Good to see them more than make up for the lost sales by Wuling. GM IMO is starting to realize that volume is not everything. GM China is up 67500 units for the first half of the year, of which Shangai GM is up 150,000 units.Also US sales at 1,261,600 are neck and neck with China sales of 1,273,502
Sooooo, now it is " What is good for China, Is good for GM?"