REPORT: GM to give China dedicated vehicle, launch up to 30 models there in five years
by Michael Harley on Jul 15th 2009 at 5:58PM 
According to Automotive News China, at least one new inexpensive model from Buick or Chevrolet will be dedicated to the Chinese and other emerging markets. The undisclosed model will arrive before 2011. In addition, two more Buick-badged vehicles, and four more wearing Chevrolet logos, will roll into Chinese showrooms in the next two years. Looking further down the road, Kevin Wale, General Motors' China Group president, reportedly also confirmed that the automaker plans to launch as many as 30 new models by 2014 in an effort to double sales. Of the 8.35 million GM cars and trucks sold in 2008, 1.09 million were sold in China.
[Source: Automotive News China, subs. req'd]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nismodev 6:19PM (7/15/2009)
Buicks appearing as Chevys? I thought Fritz wasn't a fan of badge engineering. I'm starting to think he just has a personal vendetta against the G8.
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alwaysgetlucky 6:37PM (7/15/2009)
"Is the World Economic Center of Gravity Moving to Asia? Becker"
http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/archives/2009/05/is_the_world_ec.html
jpm100 7:13PM (7/15/2009)
Badge engineering is selling essentially the same two relatively indistinct models in a marketplace under two different brands.
Selling one as a Chevy in one market and a Buick in another is tailoring to the local marketplace.
Name: 6:29PM (7/15/2009)
Guang-hua Motors?
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unknown_92111 7:26PM (7/15/2009)
heh heh buy American, buy GM and buy Ford...SUCKERS, I will never trust any Corp., I've been screw by a company here in the US....
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tuxchown 10:46PM (7/15/2009)
STFU Tokyo Rose.
MoeJoe 7:18PM (7/15/2009)
Good, maybe we can start chipping away at our disgusting trade deficit .
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Jeff 9:09PM (7/15/2009)
How, exactly?
Jonathan 8:51PM (7/15/2009)
Isn't this what brought down GM in the US? too many brands and rebadged cars in one the market?
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Edsel 9:19PM (7/15/2009)
Whatever happened to all of the bicycles and pedicabs the Chinese use to ride? Are they stored somewhere?
I'm thinking we'll be needing them here in the States pretty soon.
Highway fatalities will decline, so will my weight. Imagine, separate travel lanes on U.S. interstates for commuter bicycles.
Nope. The economy isn't that bad, it's just changing.
God bless the Chinese. They are smarter capitalists than any of us in the western democracies.
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Santosh Tiwari 9:19PM (7/15/2009)
My only concern is the shear number of models. They don't need 30 models in China. These 30 vehicles will be based on mere 5 or 6 different platforms. So most of them would be badge-engineered. This implies less money for marketing and exterior/interior design per vehicle. GM should try to stay away from a gazillion brand names and models.
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carlbolt 9:43PM (7/15/2009)
You can't teach old dog new tricks. The failed old practices of GM have been moved to China. How soon will GM start falling in China? Not too long.
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tuxchown 10:49PM (7/15/2009)
Where above does it say that they are going to be the same vehicle rebadged?
Santosh Tiwari 10:56PM (7/15/2009)
If they are not rebadged, then they have 30 different vehicle platforms. That is even more stupid. I don't think GM has more than 10 platforms. Do you think consumer vehicle market has 30 segments?
tuxchown 12:27PM (7/16/2009)
You can develop several different models on the same platform. That is different than slapping different badges on the exact same car.
theo 11:02PM (7/15/2009)
GM Exec: "Let's see, this kind of crap didn't work here in the US and contributed to bringing our wonderful company to it's knees. Let's do it the next biggest emerging market, it'll work for sure over there!"
The morons who run GM have their heads so far up their asses they can see daylight out of their necks.
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Jeff Pollak 11:17PM (7/15/2009)
Badge engineered? I guess the VW Golf and the Audi TT are just badge engineered. /s
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Goose 5:00AM (7/16/2009)
This seems especially foolish in light of this story...
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/03/report-china-rolls-out-89-new-models-in-six-months-thats-one/
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