Many Chinese would rather have a Buick

[sciguy_0504]

SHANGHAI -- General Motors Corp. has become China's top-selling foreign auto maker, surpassing Germany's Volkswagen AG, after seeing its 2005 sales grow 35.2 per cent to 665,390 vehicles, according to company figures released yesterday.

South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. and Japan's Honda Motor Co. Ltd. also reported strong growth, while VW, the former market leader, saw its sales decline in 2005.

GM, which is looking to growth in China to make up for its shrinking market share in the U.S., said sales were driven by the continuing popularity of its Buick brand, led by the Excelle sedan and hatchback.

It sold 105,000 of those two models through September, according to the China Auto Industry Association, although GM gave no figures for the entire year.

Sales of the Buick GL8 luxury passenger van also recorded steady growth, while newly introduced Chevrolet and Cadillac models also did well.

The sales growth gives GM, the world's largest auto maker, about 11.2 per cent of the Chinese market, up from 9.4 per cent in 2003, the company said.

Nearly all GM cars sold in China are made domestically.

The company opened a second plant in Shanghai last year and added three new Chevrolet models in 2005, the Sail compact car, Epica intermediate sedan and Aveo hatchback. That pushed sales in China for the brand past the 100,000 mark for the first time, establishing the country as Chevrolet's fourth-largest global market.

Volkswagen, which once had more than half of China's car market, said overall sales declined for the second consecutive year, falling about 15 per cent to 564,306.

Annual sales at its flagship Shanghai joint venture fell 19 per cent to 287,000 vehicles, said a company official speaking on condition of anonymity. Its other joint venture, China Volkswagen Automotive, saw sales edge up 3.2 per cent to 277,306 units from 268,000 in 2004.

VW has seen its market share drop sharply from more than 50 per cent in the 1990s. Hoping to regain lost ground, it has slashed prices and announced plans to introduce up to 12 new models in China by 2009, while cutting costs and improving service.

Hyundai, meanwhile, reported annual sales of 233,668 cars produced by its Beijing Hyundai Motor joint venture, up 62 per cent from 2004, spokesman Sun Zhenjie said.

Growth came mostly from its Elantra model, the mainstay of Beijing's taxi fleet and the mainland's second best selling sedan after China's own Xiali.

Honda of Japan reported a 19.1-per-cent rise in sales to 255,500 units in 2005.

Meanwhile, GM's flagship joint venture in Shanghai, Shanghai General Motors Corp., sold 325,429 vehicles, up 28.7 per cent from the previous year, the company said.

GM gave no figures for profits in its Chinese operations.

However, in the July-September quarter, GM earned $176-million (U.S.) in Asia while losing $1.6-billion in North America. In 2004, GM sold 4.7 million cars and trucks in the U.S. and 4.3 million elsewhere.

GM, which hasn't gained U.S. market share since 2002, has 26.2 per cent of U.S. car and light-truck sales.

GM is losing U.S. sales to Asian rivals such as Toyota Motor Corp.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Art...s/International

[Sixty8panther]

YEAH!!!!! this may be our salvation, China after all is where the next big global battle in automotive sales will be fought!

[HarleyEarl]

Buick has always been, for many years, a status vehicle in China.


Chinese Buick Regal

Edited January 7, 2006 by HarleyEarl

[Flybrian]

Buick has had a long, long heritage in China, dating back to the 1920s I believe. Over there, even the rebadged Opels and GMDAT products like the Sail and Excell have status. Regal is respected in a way unheard of even in the model's heyday back in the States.

[Lexcar14]

I know how to save Buick!!!!! Just allow a few hundred thousand more Chinese immigrants into this country and they'll all be buying Buicks! It's a perfect plan! :)

[VenSeattle]

Here's another article in Forbes regarding Buick/GM performance in China...

Buick sales (in China) topped 240,000 units in 2005, GM added.

YES! Global Buick sales are over 500,000!

Now if only Buick's reputation would carry over to Europe!

[jry]

they like the car cause they can say buick easier than chevrolet, pontiac or cadillac (caderack) or lincoln (ricon). just kidding. this is a value conscience buyer. they want a lot for the hard earned cash and, currently, that means buick. once they figure out how to steal the design, engineering (by reverse engineering) and violate the patents, it'll all be over for us.

[91z4me]

they like the car cause they can say buick easier than chevrolet, pontiac or cadillac (caderack) or lincoln (ricon).

just kidding. this is a value conscience buyer. they want a lot for the hard earned cash and, currently, that means buick. once they figure out how to steal the design, engineering (by reverse engineering) and violate the patents, it'll all be over for us.

[post="69108"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

They won't get much by stealing the engineering. Most Chinese Buicks are old designs with outdated engines. The US doesn't use hardly any of the designs. Cheap rebadges with upgraded interiors is all that is needed for this market. Like it should be here people don't care if the platform is a little old so long as the total package fits the bill and the price is right then it is a great car.

[sciguy_0504]

they like the car cause they can say buick easier than chevrolet, pontiac or cadillac (caderack) or lincoln (ricon).

[post="69108"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

LMAO!

[hyperv6]

Buick was the car of the last royal family in China. This means a lot to people in China today. Talk about brand loyalty.

[pow]

Once the car culture develops more strongly in China, and as the public becomes more educated through the automotive press, I think Buick's popularity will decline unless they develop better products. I know in Hong Kong, Chinese Buicks are viewed as hick vehicles.

[Robert Hall]

Once the car culture develops more strongly in China, and as the public becomes more educated through the automotive press, I think Buick's popularity will decline unless they develop better products. I know in Hong Kong, Chinese Buicks are viewed as hick vehicles.

Hong Kong is a different world from mainland China, though....Hong Kong has had decades of exposure to Japanese cars, Benzes, British cars, etc... personal ownership of a car is still a very new thing in much of China... Edited January 8, 2006 by moltar

[MyerShift]

All right! My favourite GM division crazily popular...in China. Better there than no where else. Let the sales continue!

[Cadillacfan]

As long as GM keeps pumping money into the Buick brand in china, the brand should continue to keep it's status. Looks like GM has already started doing that. The vehicles there are way nicer then the buicks in North America. That regal is really awesome. The Royaum(even though it's a rebadged Holden) is still nicer then anything sold under the brand anywhere else. Though, we do have some positive news for us. It looks like China will be getting the Enclave too from looking at their website.. so at least GM is confident that it will be just as nice if not nicer then the Chinese buicks. Very good for us. Back to China, if Buick is so popular, just imagine what GM could do with Cadillac. Just sell them in the same dealership and watch them fly off the shelves. Edited January 8, 2006 by Cadillacfan

[daves87rs]

Once the car culture develops more strongly in China, and as the public becomes more educated through the automotive press, I think Buick's popularity will decline unless they develop better products. I know in Hong Kong, Chinese Buicks are viewed as hick vehicles.

[post="69212"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Hopefully there will be updated ones soon....

Knowing a few people from there in different areas of China-for the most part-they are viewed as very good cars-old and outdated, or not....

[Robert Hall]

Hopefully there will be updated ones soon....

Knowing a few people from there in different areas of China-for the most part-they are viewed as very good cars-old and outdated, or not....

[post="70374"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

I have a couple friends from China who have been in the US about a decade--they drive Hondas and Toyotas..I'll have to ask them what they think/know about the car market back home.