Foreign and Emerging Markets

While I can’t claim to be an expert on foreign markets by any stretch of the imagination, when creating an article about GM’s New Pitch, at least touching on the subject seemed like a no-brainer. Unfortunately, there is so much information out there, and GM is such a large company, that I couldn’t even begin to talk about all of the assets and activities and subsidiaries and export hubs because it would take me a good month just to get one article up, and my readers about a week to read it.

As it were, here are some of the highlights:

With the U.S. economy in a downturn, much attention has been given to overseas assets and sales, where the industry wide slump is not so noticeable.

For instance, GM just opened a new plant in India that has been charged with developing new models as well as continued production of small cars and SUVs.

India is being eyed as a future hub for export of small cars to places such as the United States.

“The company will invest half a billion dollar in India over next seven years to keep the growth momentum. A good part of this will go into the development of new models, including a small car next year, and upgrading the existing ones that will result in a new Optra in 2010,” said Karl Slym, president and managing director, General Motors India, at the launch of its utility vehicle, Tavera Neo 2. Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL)

Further, GM has begun to position itself in foreign markets such as China, Russia, and Brazil where sales growth is encouraging. Russia for instance is expected to see sales growth of 10 to 15 percent annually and sold 523,000 vehicles last year alone.

As stated in one article:

Asia, Europe and Latin America are now the bright spots on GM’s balance sheet, with the company selling more cars overseas than it does in the US. “Asia is front and center in terms of strategy and future direction,” said John Bonnell, director of forecasting in Asia for J.D. Power & Associates. “Their big success story is in China.” Much of Asia remains the home turf of Toyota and other Japanese manufacturers. Although General Motors has increased its market share in Asia, by its own calculations, to nearly 7% from 5.9% in the last three years, its sales remain small compared with North America, where it still makes one out of every five cars sold. But GM’s smaller stature in Asia and the lack of any legacy costs of pensions and health care have allowed the company to be more nimble. Using technology from Asian partners, GM is aggressively marketing itself as a producer of smaller, fuel-efficient cars. In Thailand, GM has also benefited in the last decade from its partnership with the Japanese truckmaker Izuzu, which provided engines for GM pickups and gave it access to suppliers.

Honestly, I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Part 5 - Conclusion, Restructuring, and Goals