Full-size SUVs from General Motors (GM) will be exported to China.
China has a hunger for truck-based, full-size SUVs like the Chevrolet Suburban and GMC Yukon. GM has a joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp Ltd. Base in Shanghai, they build Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac vehicles in China for Chinese consumption. GM’s other venture is with SAIC and Guangxi Automobile Group who produces minivans and has moved up to higher-end cars. One thing these ventures do not produce – large, full-size SUVs.
According to Reuters: “GM’s Buick and Cadillac mid-size SUVs helped the group’s Chinese sales grow 12% in the third quarter this year, the first quarterly growth in the past two years.” Now, GM sees further growth in their market with large SUVs. The Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban along with Cadillac’s Escalade and GMC Yukon Denali will be exported.
These vehicles will be featured at the China International Import Expo (CIIE), which runs for one week.
“Our intention is to get customer reaction and find a way to sell these cars in China,” said GM’s China chief Julian Blissett. “We are looking into a variety of market sales plans for these vehicles, including online sales, leasing and others.”
GM China
There was no announcement as to when the exports will begin, or the prices GM will charge for these vehicles. Usually, the Chinese market gets unique version of exports, but GM did not mention if there would be unique versions of their full-size SUVs for China’s market. Nor was there any announcement about the possibilities of opening future truck production facilities in China.
Another question that was not answered has to do with China’s aggressive electrification plans. They are pushing hard to move to all EVs in massive cities like Beijing. It’s logical to assume that they would be interested in the GMC Hummer EV along with the Ultium battery technology GM co-developed with LG Chem.
We will have more details about the export plans soon.
