General Motors Co (GM) expects its sales in China this year to top 3.1 million units and sees no impact on business from an anti-monopoly probe, the president of the automaker’s China unit said yesterday.
Sales growth for GM and its Chinese partners should be slightly ahead of total market growth forecast at 8 to 10 percent, Matt Tsien told reporters.
GM and its peers are looking to China — the world’s biggest auto market by vehicles sold — to drive revenues and are investing heavily to appeal to Chinese tastes.
GM sales should exceed last year’s 3.1 million vehicles, Tsien said, though he said he did not know what the total would be. Last year’s sales grew by 11.4 percent over 2012.
China’s auto market has cooled this year as the economy slows, with sales growth diving from 13.9 percent in May to 8.5 percent last month.
Tsien’s optimistic comments come in the midst of a sweeping investigation of the auto industry by anti-monopoly regulators.
Audi AG and Chrysler Group LLC have been fined on charges that they improperly set minimum prices for vehicles or service, while a group of Japanese auto parts suppliers were fined on charges of price fixing.
Regulators have not accused GM of wrongdoing. Tsien said GM has responded to government requests for information, but did not consider that an investigation.
“It has no impact on our business or operations,” he said.
Also this year, GM’s total sales in China since production began in Shanghai in 1999 should reach 20 million, Tsien said.
Sales by the Cadillac luxury unit should rise to about 70,000 vehicles this year, Tsien added.
“We believe the luxury market here in 2016 will be the largest luxury market in the world,” he said.
On Tuesday, GM said its Cadillac brand will move its headquarters to New York next year to get closer to those living lives of luxury.
The high-end brand, which has lost sales this year to German rivals, is to become a separate unit, giving it more freedom to chase growth.
“There is no city in the world where the inhabitants are more immersed in a premium lifestyle than in New York,” Johann de Nysschen, Cadillac’s new president, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Last month, GM hired De Nysschen from Nissan’s Infiniti luxury brand, where sales are up 7 percent in the US so far this year. Cadillac is not performing as well. Sales have slumped nearly 5 percent this year despite several new vehicles that have received strong reviews. The drop comes as luxury sales and the overall US market are growing.
Most of the luxury growth has gone to Cadillac’s German rivals. Autodata Corp says Audi’s sales are up nearly 15 percent, BMW AG’s up almost 12 percent and Mercedes-Benz’s 9 percent. Toyota Motor Corp’s Lexus grew 16 percent.
Cadillac’s leaders and its marketing operations will move to Manhattan’s SoHo area, but most of its employees will remain in Michigan, including technical product development teams. Manufacturing also will not change.
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