GM says China investment on track despite maturing market
General Motors is pressing ahead with its investment plans in China, the world's largest auto market, where it expects car demand to grow 3 to 5 percent a year on average until 2020.
While GM continues to bet on China's growth, consultancy J.D. Power has said that three or more years of less than 5 percent growth would trigger a painful restructuring in China's auto sector.
Analysts say China's auto market has entered a period of unprecedented uncertainty as the economy grows at its slowest pace in 25 years.
"Even though the China market is maturing, it will still be a tremendous source of growth for us in both the short term and the long term," GM President Dan Ammann said during a media conference Monday.
GM China chief Matt Tsien, who disclosed the car market growth estimates until 2020, said GM's Wuhan plant that opened last year was operating at maximum utilization, and a planned second phase is under construction that will double capacity to 480,000 vehicles a year.
He said that SUVs, multipurpose vehicles and luxury cars will continue to be hot segments in China, with SUVs and MPVs accounting for 40 percent of the automaker's overall China growth to 2020.
GM will launch 60 new or freshened vehicles in China in the next five years, including 13 this year, Tsien said, adding that more than 10 new electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids will be introduced in that market by 2020.
China's automakers association expects overall vehicle sales this year to grow 6 percent, compared with 4.7 percent last year and 6.9 percent in 2014.
Vehicle sales growth ground to a halt last summer as the economy's growth slowed and the stock market slumped. In October, China's car sales rebounded after the government cut taxes on small cars.
Analysts say China's auto market has entered a period of unprecedented uncertainty as the economy grows at its slowest pace in 25 years.
"Even though the China market is maturing, it will still be a tremendous source of growth for us in both the short term and the long term," GM President Dan Ammann said during a media conference Monday.
GM China chief Matt Tsien, who disclosed the car market growth estimates until 2020, said GM's Wuhan plant that opened last year was operating at maximum utilization, and a planned second phase is under construction that will double capacity to 480,000 vehicles a year.
He said that SUVs, multipurpose vehicles and luxury cars will continue to be hot segments in China, with SUVs and MPVs accounting for 40 percent of the automaker's overall China growth to 2020.
GM will launch 60 new or freshened vehicles in China in the next five years, including 13 this year, Tsien said, adding that more than 10 new electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids will be introduced in that market by 2020.
China's automakers association expects overall vehicle sales this year to grow 6 percent, compared with 4.7 percent last year and 6.9 percent in 2014.
Vehicle sales growth ground to a halt last summer as the economy's growth slowed and the stock market slumped. In October, China's car sales rebounded after the government cut taxes on small cars.
