GM to Develop Global Car With China-based SAIC Motors
General Motors will invest $5 billion to build a global line of cars with Shanghai-based SAIC Motors that will be sold in Brazil, China and other emerging markets, the automaker announced Tuesday.
The cars won’t be sold in the United States, according to the statement.
The global vehicles will go on sale starting in 2019 and the automaker expects the line to eventually produce roughly 2 million cars annually.
GM said the new global architecture would replace several existing models, but didn’t specify what those outgoing models would be. The vehicles would be manufactured in China, Brazil, Mexico and India and exported to other countries. GM said they expect to source many of the car’s components from local suppliers.
“With a significant majority of anticipated automotive industry growth in 2015 to 2030 outside of mature markets, Chevrolet is taking steps to capitalize on that growth,” General Motors President Dan Ammann said in the statement . “Strengthening Chevrolet’s position through this major investment is consistent with our global strategy to ensure long-term profitable growth in the markets where we operate.”
In February, SAIC and General Motors (through its Shanghai General Motors Wuling joint venture business) opened a plant in Indonesia to build SAIC-branded cars. SAIC also owns British car company MG.
The GM-SAIC partnership has an interesting history, especially in India.
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Sergio must be very happy, his Fiat brand will no longer be the laughing stock of the automotive industry, will it be called Chivrolet?
If they're smart, GM will let actual 2nd/3rd worlders do the design and engineering, and make the important choices and tradeoffs. Letting them use the entire palette of technologies currently available to 1st world makes. That way, they'll end up much closer to what the target market really wants, than if the product becomes some interpretation of what 1st worlders thinks they ought to want. it would be interesting to see what optimizations could be made, absent many of the rules and restrictions placed on cars in current, mature markets.
FUARKKKK MARCHIONNE IS GONNA BE PISSED!!!!!
Why are GM involving their Chinese partner? If the idea is so wonderful, why not do it themselves, especially as local suppliers are to be used. Does GM or the US owe SAIC something? Why assist a nonentity partner in gaining global presence? Boggles my mind.