GM (GM), Ford (F), and Chrysler better pick up the pace of their sales in China. It is about the only place where anyone is buying cars. China car sales slowed a bit in the second half of last year, but not nearly as much as they did in the US, Europe, and Japan. Now, China has pulled ahead of the US in total monthly car sales.
According to the AP, in January only 657,000 light vehicles were sold in the US. In China, that number was 730,000. So, the race was not even close.
GM has done fairly well in China and many months it jockeys with VW for the top place among the brands sold in the most populous country in the world. But, GM now faces a challenge keeping that spot which may not bother VW because the European company has a fairly good balance sheet.
GM’s struggle to stay in business because of falling sales in the US has pushed the car company to the point where it is not only cutting people, it is also chopping product development. Putting money into China, no matter how attractive the proposition may be, becomes harder for GM each month.
When GM can’t afford to protect its market share in the most robust auto market in the world, it has lost any chance to offset the problems that it will not be able to fix in America any time soon.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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