Yes car sales are not what they used to be in North America, thanks to crossovers and trucks, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t still significant. General Motors has announced that it isn’t giving up on cars, even as its two biggest rivals, Ford and Chrysler leave the segment.
GM CEO Mary Barra has revealed that it’s car lineup isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, even though it has been reported that the future of the Chevy Sonic and Impala is in jeopardy. According to GM, its significant investments in its car lineup in 2015 and 2016 means that it can continue to offer competitive models without the need for a significant investment anytime soon.
“We launched very efficient architectures in the midsize and compact (segments) proving to be good platforms going forward with fairly minor changes,” Mary Barra told a group of journalists on a recent conference call. “And the segments are still significant,” Barra stated. “Because we’ve made the investments, we need to deploy little to no capital going forward, so we view (cars) as an opportunity. What you’ll see us do is play very efficiently in a segment that, although it is declining, there is still an opportunity.”
Over the past month Chevy has unveiled updated versions of the 2019 Cruze, Malibu, Spark and Camaro. GM is also planning other cars that will be sold in North America, although they won’t be as profitable as the cars that GM sells in China.
“China still has a significant car market,” Barra added. “South America also still has a very strong car portfolio. We are well-positioned in cars. We are always looking for efficiencies and we’ll be responsive to the market.”
Source: Wards Auto
