In North America, General Motors owns and operates GM Financial (GMC) – a captive finance arm that facilitates financial services for customers and dealers such as vehicle financing, leasing, floor-planning, and insurance/warranty services. In much the same way, General Motors and its Chinese joint venture partner, SAIC, operate GM Financial in China. And as of a few days ago, it has a sister subsidiary called SAIC-GMF Leasing Co., Ltd.
The Shanghai-based joint venture will offer customers in China automobile leasing services for Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet models produced by SAIC-GM. Interestingly, the joint venture will have “a focus on new energy vehicles”. What that rather nebulous statement might mean is currently unknown.
A GM press release stated that the new GMF Leasing joint venture will “aim to capitalize on downstream growth opportunities in automotive financing services in China while providing better, safer and more sustainable mobility solutions to customers.”
The registered capital of SAIC-GMF Leasing Co., Ltd. is RMB 1 billion, or $145,220 USD.
The GM Authority Take
Though it’s great to see GM establish a financial subsidiary focused specifically on leases in China – where auto leases have been less popular than in the United States. That said, something tells us that the “new energy focus” of the new entity is overblown by a rather wide magnitude. No matter – lease away, China!
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