General Motors is bullish on China despite the current economic slowdown, the US automaker's chief has said on the eve of the Detroit auto show.
“It is a very important market and I think it's going to be more volatile but we still believe over the long term the market has substantial growth,” chief executive officer Mary Barra told reporters on Sunday.
“We have a great partner and we're going to continue to really focus on the Chinese customer to make sure we have the right vehicles across Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet and our other local brands.”
China is GM's largest market and sales there hit a record 3.6 million vehicles in 2015, up five per cent from a year earlier. GM's US sales were up five per cent at 3.1 million vehicles last year.
In a huge shift, GM will soon begin selling vehicles made in China in the United States. GM's decision to import the Buick Envision from China a first for a major automaker has sparked outrage and is expected to become an issue in the 2016 presidential campaign.
“The general strategy we have in the company is to build where we sell,” Barra said. “In this case it wasn't economical to tool it here.” Barra -- who was recently tapped as GM's first female chairman did not rule out the possibility that the Envision could eventually be built in the United States but said importing it was the only way to round out Buick's US offerings in the near-term. The largest US automaker sold over 1.2 million Buicks in China last year and only 223,000 in the United States.