GM says it’s ripe for overseas growth

June 30, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

DETROIT

GM told potential investors Tuesday it will be the first global automaker to sell more than 2 million vehicles in China this year, portraying itself as poised for overseas growth a year after exiting bankruptcy protection.

General Motors Co. executives are trying to convince investors that the new company, which emerged from a government-led restructuring last July, is capable of making money because of its international strength and lower expenses. The automaker, now a private company 61 percent held by the government, plans to sell shares to the public as early as the fourth quarter of 2010.

Executives are also making the case that GM is clawing back from Chapter 11, when it needed roughly $50 billion in government aid to stay alive.

“All in all, we’re the best-positioned U.S. automaker in the world’s critical emerging markets,” CEO Ed Whit-acre told financial analysts during a presentation here.

GM’s market share in China is 13.3 percent, which it expects to rise marginally in the next few years. But GM’s sales there will grow, even with small market share increases, because overall Chinese auto sales are expected to keep climbing, including a 20-percent jump this year to 16.5 million cars and trucks.

The automaker runs its China operations with partner Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.

David Silver, an analyst with Wall Street Strategies, a New York-based independent equity research firm, said GM wanted analysts to know about its international sales with the stock sale coming.

“GM, as much as it has been an American company, it’s now an international company,” he said. He said GM’s growth internationally will be far higher than in the U.S., which used to be GM’s biggest market.

GM has led all automakers in sales to the Chinese the past five years, with sales up 67 percent since 2008, said President of International Operations Tim Lee.

GM plans to roll out nearly 70 new or upgraded vehicles in international markets between now and 2014, further strengthening its position, Lee said. GM will use car designs that will be distributed across the globe, but also has cars and trucks that are designed specifically for markets.

Asian, European and South American operations are the key to GM’s sustained growth and profitability, GM executives said.