General Motors' Layoffs and Restructuring in China's Auto Market
TapTechNews August 13th news, Bloomberg reported today that General Motors is laying off workers in China to reposition in the world's largest automotive market .
Insiders said that General Motors is laying off workers in China and will soon meet with its local partner SAIC, planning for a larger-scale structural reform of its business in China, and General Motors realizes that its sales are unlikely to return to the peak level in 2017.
The report said that General Motors is reducing employees in relevant departments in the Chinese market, including the research department. According to insiders, in the coming weeks, General Motors and SAIC will discuss possible capacity cuts as part of the strategic adjustment of selling American brands in China. This reevaluation represents a significant shift in General Motors' strategy.
The report mentioned that in China, the world's largest automotive market, foreign brands are competing with numerous local rivals and are currently facing huge overcapacity. These people said that the reorganization involves shifting to producing electric vehicles, focusing on more upscale models and importing high-end cars.
People who did not want to be named said that these plans are under consideration and have not been publicly disclosed. General Motors will continue to maintain joint ventures with SAIC and Wuling Motors to produce cheaper cars and electric vehicles locally, and some of these models will be exported from China.
TapTechNews noted that SAIC's production and sales bulletin for July 2024 shows that the July sales of SAIC General Motors Co., Ltd. was 15,000 units, a significant drop of 82.42% year-on-year, and the cumulative sales in the first 7 months of this year dropped by 55.14% year-on-year.
Also, the July sales of SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co., Ltd. also dropped by 31.72% year-on-year.
On August 9th, SAIC General Motors announced a high-level personnel change, with the former executive deputy general manager of Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center Lu Xiao replacing Zhuang Jingxiong as the general manager of SAIC General Motors.