GM’s Barra Sees ‘Shifts’ in China; Trucks Propelling U.S.

DETROIT – General Motors CEO Mary Barra admits the Chinese market has witnessed deviations in growth recently, leading to consecutive year-over-year sales declines for the automaker, but she expects growth in the coming months as it introduces fresh products.

“As it relates to China, there are some shifts in the market place but there are still growth opportunities for the next several years,” Barra tells WardsAuto ahead of the automaker’s annual meeting of shareholders here.

GM China and its joint-venture partners earlier this month reported a 4% drop in sales to 252,567 locally built and imported vehicles. It marked the second straight monthly year-over-sales decline for the automaker and was in step with an overall slowdown in vehicle sales there.

Experts say the shift indicates a general cooling of Chinese economy and it comes at a time when GM is investing billions of dollars to increase the popularity of its Buick brand and introduce Chevrolet and Cadillac to the region.

Barra says the rollout of fresh products into growing segments will put wind back in GM’s sales in the coming months.

“We have new products coming out in the segments of the market that China is very interested in, such as SUVs” she says.

GM plans nine new SUVs to fill the lineups at Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and Baojun. The automaker sees the segment growing to 7 million units by 2020.

“There isn’t anywhere in this industry where it is a complete straight line,” Barra adds. “But we have huge opportunities and we’re executing our plan.”

Closer to home, Barra says the automaker is reaping the benefit of renewed consumer demand in the U.S. for large pickups and SUVs, segments where GM has a lineup of new and redesigned products.

GM sales through May increased 4.9% against an industry that’s up 5.8%, according to WardsAuto data.

“We’re enjoying the benefits of our 3-truck strategy,” Barra says, referring to the recently redesigned Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra large and heavy-duty pickups and the new Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups. “Obviously trucks are strong with the current conditions in North America.”

Barra also says she continues to work closely with her manufacturing leadership to squeeze more production out of pickup and SUV assembly plants in Texas, Missouri, Indiana and Michigan, where crews are working three shifts with overtime to meet demand.

At the same time, she adds, GM continues to refresh its car portfolio, led by five fresh entries this year for its volume Chevrolet brand.

“Each of those vehicles will see profit improvements on an individual basis from the previous generation,” Barra says.

GM’s shareholder meeting opens under reports of growing pressure to tie up with crosstown rival Fiat Chrysler. FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne appealed to GM for a merger to grow scale and reduce design and engineering costs, but was rebuffed. He now reportedly has sought activist hedge funds to pressure GM into a deal.

Barra reiterates GM is not interested in joining with FCA. “We have scale and we are leveraging that scale. We have our plan.”

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