GM reported losses in China in Q1 2022 amid falling market share, though CEO Mary Barra remains committed to the Chinese market, seeing long-term growth potential fueled by EVs.
While GM’s Chinese earnings and market share have declined from their peaks in 2014-2015, with its share now at 8.6%, Barra believes premium EVs can still give GM “a role” there.
“Over the long term, we’re committed to China,” Barra said. “We believe that it’s a market that — over the medium term — will have substantial growth.”
“We think clearly that market has shifted and the landscape has shifted … with the capability of the Chinese [automakers]. But we still think there’s a role and a place for GM to play with luxury premium,” Barra said.
However, former GM executive Bob Lutz predicts the overall push for rapid EV adoption in the US is “a colossal mistake”, arguing neither Americans nor Chinese are ready given lack of infrastructure and the technology being prematurely forced on consumers by government policy and media hype around climate change.
Lutz believes automakers erred in trying to transition to EVs “overnight” versus a more gradual, organic consumer-led shift.
“The problem with the whole EV movement is that there was a colossal amount of hype behind it, from what I like to call the liberal mainstream media, making it sound like everyone’s next vehicle was going to be an EV. And of course the government was pushing it because of their climate change policies,” Lutz said. “And it just plain wasn’t going to happen, the American public … not even the Chinese public, nobody is ready to get pushed into EVs before the whole infrastructure and the situation is right for them.
“Trying to get it done overnight was a colossal mistake,” Lutz said.
