When the all new GM share starts trading on 11/18, the bulk of the new issue will most likely not be owned by widows and orphans, but by foreign governments and their proxies. One of the largest new shareholders could be Chinese. GM is in the final negotiation stage to sell a good chunk of their new stock to their old pals and Chinese joint venture partners SAIC, reports Reuters, citing the usual “two people familiar with the matter.” And don’t think they are just talking percentages, there is much more on the table. Read More >

I came to China first in 2004 on a job for Volkswagen. Back when, and years thereafter, the foreigners at the joint ventures agreed (latest after the third beer at Paulaner) that eventually, their days will be numbered. “Once the Chinese have learned enough, they’ll kick us out,” was the lament. That was six years ago, and no sign of an expulsion from the Chinese paradise yet. On the contrary: The Chinese might invite the foreigners in for good. They are thinking about dropping the 50:50 joint venture requirement that forces foreign automakers to team up with local manufacturers. Read More >

This will disappoint those who were hoping for a cooling-off of the Chinese auto market. Chinese automakers in China shipped 1.2m passenger cars to dealers in October, up 27.1 percent from a year earlier, the official China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) told Reuters today. Overall vehicle sales, which also include buses and trucks, were 1.54 million units, up 25.5 percent from a year ago. Read More >

It’s a done deal, says Sinocast via Trading Markets. Chen Hong, president of China’s SAIC has gone to the US. He’s not there to visit Niagara Falls and Yosemite. He’s there to negotiate how much of SAIC’s  $5.7b in cash and cash equivalents will be converted into GM stock on November 18. Read More >

Audi’s sales in Japan went down 20 percent in October. The macro-oriented crowd points at the fact that the domestic Japanese market was down 26.7 percent in October, and that Audi or its dealers have no reason to complain. And what are Japanese Audi dealers doing? They are complaining. They say that they have enough buyers, but not enough cars to meet the demand.

They all go to China. Read More >

One by one, automakers announce that China either is or will be their largest market in the world. First and foremost, there’s  GM. The General officially sells more cars in China than back home (some nitpicking caveats remain.) Volkswagen’s Audi said its China sales are expected to exceed German sales next year. If you want to sell luxury cars, you need to ship them to China. China already is the world’s largest market for the Mercedes-Benz S-Class , and China might soon outclass the Germans in all Mercedes classes. Nobody buys more Porsche Cayennes than the Chinese. With all these records by other makers, BMW can’t possibly remain on the sidelines. Read More >

The Freep says GM has appointed a Vice President of diversity. And they’ll need one. GM’s post-IPO ownership roster shapes up to be quite, well, diverse. China’s SAIC appears to be gung-ho for the IPO. And it’s not just the Chinese government that likes the idea of owning a little bit of America. Read More >

The feared Chinese car exports so far have been a dud. The value of car imports beats exports 3:1. This doesn’t dissuade privately owned Chinese carmakers from trying. They are active at the soft underbelly of the world, in developing or emerging markets of South America and Africa. Now, they are getting a bit closer to Europe. Read More >

Did we say „duh“ when GM China announced plans to make more than 2m cars in China this year, the first foreign joint venturer to do so? When they said that, they already had 1,976,913 units in the can, and nobody did doubt that GM would find the 23,087 buyers to reach the 2m. Well, a few days later, they found them. Read More >

Australian Caradvice has the riveting story of (Geely-owned) Volvo discontinuing plans of  a large S-Class type sedan that could mix it up with the likes of the Audi A8, the BMW 7er, and of course the Mercedes S-Class, all very much in favor amongst the Chinese rich and not so famous. Cardadvice makes it a fight between Geely CEO Li Shufu, who wanted the big Volvo, and his new hire Stefan Jacoby, whom he had snatched from VWoA to run Volvo, and who doesn’t want a big Volvo. The truth is elsewhere. Read More >

In the politically and emotionally charged discussion whether Chinese interests will buy a chunk of GM in their IPO, one decision appears imminent: Will SAIC, GM’s joint venture partner in China, take the bite or eschew the lure? India’s Economic Times, always with a wary eye on happenings on the other side of the Himalaya, says that “top Chinese automaker SAIC Motor is close to making a decision on whether to buy a stake in its long-time partner General Motors as the US auto firm goes public.” Read More >

The recently-debuted Chevrolet Volt ads are built around the same basic assumption that drove the design of the Volt’s extended-range electric (EREV) drivetrain: Americans will not tolerate running out of vehicle range. So severe will be America’s Range Anxiety®, GM is guessing, that its electric vehicle (EV) consumers would be happy to lose some electric range and pay a significant price premium compared to the pure-electric competition in order to fill up on gas when they forget to plug in. But while we wait for this psychological insight to prove true across the broader market, recent news seems to show that GM has forgotten about another beloved American freedom: the freedom of choice. For example, the choice to buy a GM-made “pure” EV. To find that kind of freedom you have to go to China…

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Wasn’t BYD the miraculous Chinese company that would bring electric cars to the masses? Weren’t they supposed to go hundreds of miles on a single charge?  Forget about it. So far, their electric cars are being tested as taxis in Shenzhen in low numbers. What if you would be crazy enough to buy one yourself? They won’t sell you one. Read More >

Worried about the Chinese grabbing a piece of GM while it’s cheap? Don’t feel like the lone ranger. China is joining  an illustrious circle of investors from Kuwait, Abu Dhabi and around the world and grabbed a “notable” stake in Daimler. An unnamed Chinese institutional investor has bought a chunk of Daimler, as their CFO Bodo Uebber told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), which sent an advance copy to Reuters. Read More >

Our patent-pending China new car market prediction system (take GM China, deduct a few percent) hasn’t been doing so well lately, due to the poor showing of Wuling, which confused the mix. Let’s give it another cautious go.  GM China increased its October sales by 19.6 percent on strong sales of Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac cars. That according to Bloomberg, which has it straight from GM Shanghai. Read More >