GM rolls out Cruze at Chinese show

The automaker unveiled three new models as it sets its sights on continued growth in China.

STAFF/WIRE REPORT

General Motors unveiled the Chevrolet Cruze to the Chinese market Tuesday, as it maneuvers to keep its edge in a market vital to its future as it struggles for survival back home.

The Cruze is set to be unveiled in North America in 2010, with production to begin that summer at GM’s Lordstown complex.

GM is calling the compact car its first global vehicle and is making it at several locations around the world. The Chinese models will be manufactured in Shanghai.

The car is to be sold first in Europe. Production is to begin next spring at a new auto factory in Russia. The Cruze made its global debut at the Paris Auto Show last month.

In China, GM also displayed the massive Buick Enclave SUV and zippy but powerful Cadillac CTS-V. Along with the Cruze, these models are meant to cover the whole range of potential customers in China — from the wealthy pleasure-seeker to young professionals buying their first vehicles.

GM’s sales rose 18.5 percent last year to more than 1 million vehicles in China, the world’s second-largest auto market after the United States. Like other automakers, it is looking to China and other emerging markets to compensate for declining sales in the U.S. and Europe.

“We have to recognize that the U.S. is where the problem is now. We’re growing in these other areas,” said Robert Socia, vice president of Shanghai General Motors, one of GM’s eight joint ventures in China. “The problems in the U.S. are finite and are attributable only to the U.S., and a little bit, to Europe.”

America’s big three automakers — GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC — have been battered by the economic meltdown in the U.S., and are lobbying the U.S. government for a $25 billion bailout.

“China is very, very important to us when you talk about the emerging markets,” said Socia. “We’re expanding very, very fast here and we’re going to continue to do that.”

GM, Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., Volkswagen AG — virtually all the big automakers turned out in force for the show in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, China’s biggest single auto market with a population of nearly 95 million people.

China’s domestic auto sales have slowed in recent months as oil prices surged and credit grew scarcer due to the global financial crisis. Analysts forecast growth in total auto sales will grow 8 percent or less this year, down from 22 percent to 8.8 million units in 2007.

But GM expects total passenger car sales to recover to about 10 percent growth in 2009, said Socia.

Although GM’s worldwide sales fell 11 percent in the third quarter, that was mainly due to contractions in the U.S. and European markets, Socia said.