Last week, GM Authority reported that General Motors unveiled five next-generation, American-made models for the first time in China, including the company’s four all-new full-size SUVs – the 2021 Cadillac Escalade, 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe, 2021 Chevrolet Suburban and 2021 GMC Yukon. Now, GM’s top executive in the Asian country has just confirmed that the automaker will sell its huge utility vehicles in the Chinese market.
During a press conference at the 2020 China International Import Expo (CIIE), GM Executive Vice President and President of GM China Julian Blissett revealed that the company does indeed plan to officially sell the iconic full-size SUVs for the first time in China. Until now, these vehicles were considered unsuitable for the Chinese market as they were too large and unfeasible to import.
2021 Cadillac Escalade ESV Premium Luxury Platinum
This marks a change in GM’s strategy, driven by the sustained increase in demand for utility vehicles in the world’s largest auto market. In the third quarter of the year alone, new midsize crossovers from Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet boosted GM’s sales in the Chinese market by 12 percent – achieving its first quarterly growth in two years. That shows the high interest of local customers for the larger SUVs.
2021 Chevrolet Suburban High Country
For this and other reasons related to the demographic changes that the Asian country has experimented in recent years, GM hopes to further expand its presence in China by officially inaugurating the full-size SUV segment and taking advantage of its broad leadership in this category as a new competitive edge. The units for the Chinese market will be imported from the Arlington plant in Texas, the only facility where they are manufactured.
2021 Chevrolet Tahoe Z71
When asked about the specific plans for the introduction of the next-generation full-size SUVs in the Chinese market, Blissett said “we are studying various market plans for these models, including online sales, leasing and others,” but preferred not to reveal precise details or the release schedule. For now, it’s also unclear whether GM China’s plan includes launching each of the four utility vehicles.
2021 GMC Yukon Denali
However, we can assume that the safest model among the full-size utility vehicles GM will sell in China is the new Cadillac Escalade, which has bolstered its flagship position with several exclusive and industry-leading technological innovations. In fact, the Escalade is the only one that has been offered to Chinese customers on request and through direct import by some of the brand’s dealers in the country.
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Comments
WOW GM has done something that really looks to be a GREAT decision!!!!!!! Impost them to China built in the USA! WOW I am flabbergasted!!!! So happy to say something nice about GM! How did this happen?
I’m very interested to see how these do there. The high tariffs on imports and their huge engines (displacement taxes) will make them incredibly expensive. But that alone may be the point. They will be coveted and will elevate the Cadillac Brand even higher there.
“Until now, these vehicles were considered unsuitable for the Chinese market as they were too large and unfeasible to import.” Says Who!?
Lol it’s the exact opposite, Chinese people have a fetish for big vehicles such that BMW, VW and other European brands makes longer version of their models for Chinese market, yes it’s true they’re catering Chinese but don’t care about Americans and sell them the same tiny narrow crampy cars they make to suit narrow European roads.
You are so missing the point. The fact that the Chinese have a fascination with large vehicles is true, but it does not negate that fact that these vehicles are too large for many Chinese roads. These are two unrelated events.
Now, you bring up BMW and VW, but you fail to mention that neither BMW nor VW (or VW subsidiaries Audi and Porsche) a full-size body-on-frame vehicle comparable to the GM SUVs in question. In fact, every utility vehicle offered by both BMW and VW in China (or elsewhere globally) is unibody, and maxes out around the size of the Cadillac XT6. The Tahoe is a size class larger than these, and the Suburban is even bigger still.