10:53 a.m.: GM could spend more in China
Staff, wire
SHANGHAI, China -- General Motors Corp. plans to increase its stake in its thriving joint venture with Chinese automakers SAIC and Wuling Automobile, media reports said Wednesday, citing a senior SAIC executive.
Spokesmen for GM and partners SAIC and Wuling refused comment on the reports in China Business News and other state-run newspapers citing SAIC Motor Corp.s chairman Hu Maoyan as saying that GM was seeking to raise its 34 percent stake in the joint venture. Hu, who was speaking at an industry forum in the northern city of Tianjin, did not give any details.
It was unclear how GM, which says it needs U.S. government help to weather current hard times, would finance such a move, or even if it would be able to convince either of its partners to sell.
GM announced last week that it will slow operations at its Lordstown assembly plant and reduced the workforce there and in the neighboring stamping plant by approximately 1,100 workers.
Although growth in Chinas auto sales has slowed recently as the chill from the global slowdown spreads, the country remains one of GMs fastest growing markets.
SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile, with 548,945 vehicles sold in China last year, is one of its star performers.
State-owned SAIC is GMs Shanghai-based partner but aspires to become an international rival. It holds 50.1 percent of the SAIC-GM-Wuling venture and would be reluctant to give up any of those shares, analysts say.
That means Wuling, whose controlling owner is the local government in southwestern Chinas Guangxi region, would need to pare its minority stake further.
SAIC-GM-Wuling makes small trucks, minivans and Chevrolet Sparks. GM recently said it had begun exports of Chevrolet N200 minivans from the factory to Peru.
GM has eight joint ventures and two wholly owned companies in China, employing more than 20,000 people. The company said its sales in China rose 18.5 percent in 2007 to 1.03 million units.
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FlashGordon
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12-03-08 4:25 PM
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This will inevitably be a bail out, as soon as they get the out (free billion$) they will bail (to China and Russia) because those are the countries that have helped them out over all these years and made them what they once were.
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Billdog
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11-13-08 12:42 PM
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right on david04. The big three were once vary good for the US now they have found ways to make money and fail the vary people that have made them great. It is time they go down with the ship.
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david04
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11-13-08 9:31 AM
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For 30 years the big 3 have been exporting our jobs to the slave labor markets around the world and now they want the same people they bailed out on to bail them out ? I say let the chinese and mexican govts.bail them out.
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Wolfrun1
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11-13-08 5:45 AM
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spend more in China ... build them there .... keep them there !!!! then ask the U.S. to bail them out ??? what a croc !!! the very day GM asked the Gov. for a bailout ....they invested 600 million in Russia . tell them the same thing GM has said to workforce .. sorry but !!!!!!
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XANADU440
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11-13-08 1:54 AM
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AFTER READING THIS , I HAVE NO PITY FOR GM .... IT`S ASHAMED THE WORKERS HAVE TO SUFFER FROM THIER GREED
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FlashGordon
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11-12-08 9:20 PM
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EFF GM!!!!
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thomas123
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11-12-08 6:38 PM
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I CAN'T BELIEVE ANYONE WANTS TO BAIL THIS COMPANY OUT YOU KNOW THEY HAVE BEEN HELPING CHINA BUILD CARS FOR THE LAST 15 YRS FOR A TRADE OFF OF A PIECE OF CHINESE ACTION NEW CAPITALISM CHINA RIGHT NOW IS BUILDING A CAR PLANT IN MEXICO TO IMPORT YOU GUESSED IT CHINESE CARS INTO AMERICA BROUGHT TO YOU BY GM AM I A BITTER EX DELPHITE---YES--- BUT I ALSO REMEMBER WAY BACK WHEN DELF__K AKA GM SET UP SHOP IN ASIA TO. THEY ARE REAPING THEIR REWARDS AT US CITIZENS EXPENSE. LET GM US BURN BABY LET IT GO DOWN IN FLAMES. THEY HAVE ENOUGH WORLD MARKET SHARE THE US MARKET IS LIKE A BAD CASE OF FLEAS. WATCH EM SHAKE THE REST OF THE FLES THAT ARE LEFT WORKING OFF!!!!
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