The Venucia dealers are at the center of automotive production, and are destined to become even bigger, along with Baojun and Sail. Where is this hub? In China, the world’s number 1 automaker.
These brands are low cost models associated with joint ventures between Nissan and Dongfen (Venucia), SAIC-GM-Wuling (Baojun 630) and SAIC-GM (Sail). And those are just the ones that are currently in the news – there will be more.
Here’s your Baojun 630
With China the largest producer of automobiles since 2009, when it took over from the USA, the main targets have been the main cities, but now the smaller cities in China look as if they are taking over as the principal sales regions. Estimates from China’s GM operations are that the smaller towns will have the majority of domestic sales within five years.
This is where the joint ventures products will be in direct opposition to indigenous brands such as Geely and BYD (Build Your Dream).
The products earmarked for the smaller cities are all very much at the budget end of production, with the GM Sail, for example retailing in China for $8,600 (around 250,000 baht on direct exchange).
China has turned out to be a very important market for GM, which has seen its domestic (US) market shrinking, but the Chinese marketplace has been expanding exponentially, with now over 500 Chevrolet dealers in China and sales of over two million vehicles this year alone.
