General Motors new head of operations in China, Matt Tsien, told Reuters he hopes to see the automaker grow another 10 percent in China in 2014 and keep pace with the country’s overall auto market for the rest of the decade.
Tsien hopes to maintain GM’s trend of “profitable growth” in China, its largest market by volume. GM sold 3.5 million vehicles in the country in 2013, and if it sees the 10 percent growth it’s looking for, will see sales rise to 3.16 million this year.
Tsien hopes to achieve the goals through meeting the demand in China for luxury vehicles and crossovers.
Last year auto sales in China rose 13.9 percent to 21.98 million vehicles. In a strong, emerging market like China, GM is “looking to at least track and maybe outpace (overall market growth) by a little bit,” Tsien told Reuters. “We feel fairly optimistic about 2014.”
GM hopes to grow in stride with the country’s overall automotive market, which is expected to grow seven percent a year to more than 30 million vehicles by 2020.
Growth rates fell in China in 2011 and 2012, but according to 52-year old Tsien, “the market has still got some very significant potential.”
Comment
Some people will say 10% growth is not bad!
Others will say it’s down 3% from the year before!
Either way both are looking at the wrong thing, what is the profit margins for China?