In an effort to win support from the Obama Administration, General Motors will have to axe one of its brands; sources have told Shanghai Securities News.
Buick has always been the lowest selling GM brand in the U.S. and it appears that Obama's auto task force has asked GM to sacrifice it. By doing so, GM will be able to focus on its profitable brands and so recover sooner, the newspaper said.
Sources said that SAIC Group (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp) is following the issue closely as it will affect the future of the brand in China.
"China is Buick's largest market," a source said, "it doesn't sell well in the U.S."
Statistics show that Buick sells more than 330,000 units per year in China, while sales in the U.S. are only about 185,000.
An SAIC insider said that the Group would not buy the Buick brand. However, there is a possibility that GM may transfer the right to use the Buick brand to SAIC Motors or SAIC Group. In this way, GM might still be able to receive a proportion of Buick profits in China and SAIC would be relieved from its concern for the future of the brand.
For more details, please read the full Chinese coverage at:
http://paper.cnstock.com/html/2009-04/07/content_68011641.htm
(China.org.cn by Yan Pei, April 8, 2009)
