The cars will come in a variety of different body styles and be equipped with both diesel and gas engines. Automakers no longer can dump older models as lower-cost vehicles to sell alongside more state-of-the-art premium cars and trucks.
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The bet on the run of the mill brand covers a new family of models that will be directly targeted at the rapid rising emerging markets – a development process that also puts another argument behind the company’s rejection of the merger offer from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
Chevy hopes to see sales for the new line grow to more than two million units annually. The company has deemed those markets as too hard to make a strong return on the investment or, as in the case of Russian Federation, too risky. Ammann added that GM has no plans to sell any of the vehicles in the U.S. or Europe. Ford Motor Co.is taking a similar approach.
This new program will hopefully save GM a ton of money, and consequently lower the final vehicle price for consumers. China will generate 33 percent and mature markets will provide just 12 percent of additional sales.
Obviously, China is the main target here, so expect the new cars to cater mostly to Chinese market demands.
GM is halting production in Indonesia and more recently stopped making the Chevrolet Sonic in Thailand. (SAIC) to jointly develop the vehicle family and engine.
It’s certainly not out of the question.
The world’s major auto manufacturer General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), announced that it will develop a new family of wide-ranging vehicles in order to push into global growth markets, though deepening its partnership with China’s SAIC motors as the world’s third-biggest car manufacturer carry on to recast its policy in developing economies by investing $5 million.
“We are taking significant advantage of the global scale we do have”, commented GM President Dan Ammann in a briefing. “It’s all about us making significant investment in growth of these markets”. He said the new architecture will be a step towards GM’s goal to build nearly all of its vehicles from just four vehicle sets by 2025.
The vehicle family is being developed by a multinational team of engineers and designers assigned to ensure each entry is tailored to meet the expectations of customers in each market.
The company aims to manufacture and sell the vehicles in China, Brazil, India and Mexico, and export the cars to other emerging countries.
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The plan, however, does not foresee GM exporting the new models to mature vehicle markets such as the United States.
