CHINA 3,500 in July, 5,400 in June and rough-ly 4,000 in May. Most recently, Chevro-let introduced the Equinox RS appear-ance package exclusively for the Chinese market, a first for the brand. he Buick Envision is by far GM’s most succesful crossover ever with its China sales surpassing 15,000 units in August 2017. One reason for the enhanced popularity of the Envision versus the Equinox is be-cause of the strength of the Buick brand in China, which was the irst brand that GM sold in China when it entered the market 20 years ago. In addition, Equinox sales were temporarily constrained at launch due to product availability in the country, which has since been resolved. Relecting the strong popularity of SUVs among Chinese consumers, GM China re-ported a 42% year-over-year increase in sales of SUVs. In the irst eight months of 2017, GM and its joint ventures in China delivered a record 2,381,834 units. SOURCE: COURTESY OF GM GM China’s brands include the global Chevrolet, Buick, and Cadillac brands, and three local brands of Wuling (small light commercial vehicle-LCV and passenger minivans-MPV); Baojun (sedan, MPV, and SUV); and Jiefang (commercial trucks). In calendar-year 2016, GM sold 3.8 million vehicles in China, of which, 176,633 units were leet sales. Cadillac Sales Soar in China Another brand experiencing an increase in sales in the Chinese market is Cadillac. For GM, it is experiencing strong sales for its luxury vehicles and SUVs, while sales for its small-cars have sotened for GM and other OEMs in China. General Motors said its sales in China rose 12% in August 2017 fueled by strong growth in its SUV sales and the contin-ued success of its Cadillac luxury brand, which saw sales increase to 51% in Au-gust 2017 to 15,014 vehicles. For com-parison, in the month of August 2017, The Wuling Sunshine is a ive-to eight-seater Microvan made by SGMW (SAIC-GM-Wuling), a Chinese joint venture of SAIC with Guangxi Automotive Group and General Mo-tors. It is one of GM’s best-selling products in China. the Cadillac brand sold 15,016 vehicles in the U.S. In a milestone for the Cadil-lac brand, China surpassed the U.S. as its largest global market in January 2017 in terms of total sales year-to-date. Cadillac currently builds the CT6 se-dan, the long-wheelbase ATS sedan, XT5 crossover and the XTS sedan at GM’s joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp. he XT5 luxury crossover continues to lead sales for the brand with 89,111 units delivered worldwide so far in 2017. August was its second-best month in the U.S. with 7,236 units sold. Another Cadillac model built by SAIC-GM is a longer-wheelbase version of the ATS sedan, called the ATS-L. he longer wheelbase Chinese model has more room in the back seat than the regular ATS, a big selling point in China, which has contribut-ed to its popularity and strong sales among Chinese buyers. Globally, sales of the ATS model grew 8.9% for the month, driven by market share gains in the U.S. and Cana-da. As in the U.S., the midsize XT5 cross-over SUV is selling briskly in China, with nearly 5,000 sold. GM is also reporting brisk sales of the larger CT6 sedan in China, which was new-ly introduced last year. By tripling its China sales in ive years, Cadillac has surpassed Lexus, Land Rover, and Volvo to become China’s No. 4 luxu-ry brand in terms of sales volume. Until a few years ago, most Cadillacs sold in Chi-na faced a 25% tarif imposed on import-ed vehicles. Now, almost of the Cadillacs sold in China are built in Shanghai, mostly at a recently opened $1.3 billion GM facto-ry, the company’s hi-tech assembly plant. In addition, local production has made it possible for Cadillac to price its vehicles a little below the German Big hree. Ca-dillac has also opened hundreds of deal-erships in recent years. Globally, Cadillac sold 32,084 units in August 2017, maintaining a 15-month run of consecutive growth. he brand is on pace to surpass last year’s total of 308,718 vehicles sold. In August 2017, year-to-date, sales are up 39,354 units compared to Au-gust 2016, totaling 221,566 units. “he transformation of Cadillac contin-ues to accelerate with the globalization of our commercial footprint,” said Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen. “he market share expansion in international markets and the escalation of transaction prices in the United States creates a strong founda-tion for sustainable growth.” Q3 2017 I AUTOMOTIVE FLEET 5
Automotive Fleet Sep 2017: 5
