As A Result Of Selling Down, GM Cuts The Number Of Workers In China

LYRIQ, Cadillac EV, and OPTIQ all-electric SUVs launched at Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition (Auto Guangzhou) 2023. (Doc. General Motors)

JAKARTA The golden era of General Motors (GM) in China appears to be over. The US auto giant was forced to cut its number of employees in the Bamboo Curtain country, a strong signal about the shift in the landscape of the global automotive industry.

According to a Bloomberg report, which was confiscated by CNevpost, Wednesday, August 14, GM will carry out a massive restructuring in China, including reducing production capacity and focusing on high-end electric vehicles (EVs). This decision was taken amid the increasingly fierce competition from local Chinese electric car manufacturers, which have managed to win the hearts of local consumers with competitive innovation and prices.

This decision is also supported by GM sales data, which was released by SAIC, a GM partner in China earlier this month, namely the January to July period this year was only able to sell 240,579 vehicles. This figure is down 55.14 percent compared to last year.

"GM dismissed employees in departments related to the Chinese market, including research and development," the report said, referring to someone familiar with the matter.

GM will soon meet with SAIC to plan a larger structural reshuffle of its operations in China.

The report also revealed that over the next few weeks, GM and SAIC will discuss possible capacity reductions, as part of the restructuring of their brands sold in China.

"The reassessment represents a major change in GM's strategy involving a switch to electric vehicle (EV) production, focusing on higher-end models and importing premium cars," he continued.

Despite cutting employees, GM will still produce cheaper cars and electric vehicles through a joint venture with SAIC and Wuling.

Talking about the history of GM in China is nothing new, even the company became one of the first foreign car brands to enter the local market and its sellers peaked in 2017 with a total of 4 million units, and falling every year.

In April 2021, its joint venture company in China, SAIC-GM, launched future electrification projections and smart connectivity as well as introduced the Ultium platform. Then, on September 14, 2021, GM officially launched the Ultium EV platform to the Chinese market. To date, the Cadillac and Buick GM brands have launched a number of electric vehicles based on the Ultium platform.