On February 61EDT, GM announced that it would reduce its business in Australia and New Zealand and eliminate the Horton brand by 202 1. At the same time, the factory in Luo Yong, Thailand will be sold to Great Wall Motor, and the Chevrolet brand will be evacuated from Thailand at the end of this year.

In this regard, General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Bora (Mary? Barra) said: "I always say that we will do the right thing, even in difficult times. Now is a difficult time. We are restructuring our international business, focusing on implementing appropriate strategies in the market to promote strong returns, while giving priority to global investment that will promote the growth of the automotive industry in the future, especially electric vehicles and self-driving cars. "

"Reorganization", "rate of return", "electric vehicle" and "autonomous driving" are four key words in Mary Bola's response. In fact, GM has been carrying out drastic reforms in recent years. On the one hand, starting from 20 15, GM is gradually withdrawing from the market with insufficient return on investment; On the other hand, GM has also rapidly increased its investment in the future travel field through acquisition, capital injection and cooperation.

Although the topic of the transformation of traditional car-making enterprises has often been seen in the news in recent years, including traditional car companies such as Volkswagen, Toyota and BMW, they are also making efforts in the future travel market, but no one is as "broken wrist" as General Motors, betting on the strategic transformation of the future travel market, which is unique. So, can such a radical strategy help GM win the future?

Sales continued to decline? The global contraction strategy has been developed for many years.

"The company wants to focus on markets that can bring rich returns. During the transition period, GM will provide support for employees and customers in these fields in after-sales service. " Mary Bola explained why GM had withdrawn from Australia, New Zealand and Thailand.

GM also said that it has analyzed the commercial reasons for continuing to put into production in the Luo Yong plant in the future, but the low capacity utilization rate and low sales volume "make GM's production in this plant unsustainable". Obviously, the main reason for GM's withdrawal from Australia, New Zealand and Thailand is the continuous decline in sales volume and low market share.

The data shows that in 20 19, GM's global sales volume was 7718,000 vehicles, down 7.97% year-on-year, and the decline rate in Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa even reached 12.47%. According to the data, nearly 80% of GM's car sales are concentrated in the United States and China, and Australia, New Zealand and Thailand are the "hardest hit areas" for the decline in sales, which is also the fuse for GM to withdraw from the above three markets.

In fact, since 20 10, the sales volume of Horton brand owned by GM in the Australian market has been declining all the way, and its ranking has also dropped from the second place to 10 last year, and its market share has dropped from 12% to 4%, which also led GM to the closure of Horton in Australia in 20 17 due to cost problems. The same thing happened in Thailand. The data shows that in 20 19, the sales volume of Chevrolet brand in Thailand was 20,300 vehicles, and the market share was only 1.95%.

If we review GM's global strategy in recent years, it is not difficult to find that as early as 20 15, GM's global contraction strategy has gradually begun. In recent years, GM has gradually withdrawn from many markets, including Russia, South Korea and Indonesia. At the same time, brands including Opel, vauxhall and Horton have either changed hands or retired.

Interestingly, if we compare GM's global contraction strategy with the bankruptcy reorganization in 2008, we can find that there is a very obvious common ground between them. That is to say, on the surface, GM suffers from the decline in sales, profit and tight capital chain caused by the economic downturn, but the root cause is actually GM's own "big enterprise disease" and its coping strategies are so similar.

After the financial crisis in 2008, GM successfully divested inferior assets through bankruptcy protection, and then focused on vehicle manufacturing by selling parts subsidiaries. Through the acquisition and reorganization of auto finance business, the original complex financial business will return to the service of auto products, making GM more focused on auto business instead of being distracted by excessive diversification.

The global contraction strategy from 20 15 is another "slimming" of GM. On the one hand, selling brands and factories that can't bring real benefits will bring abundant cash flow to GM. At the same time, according to statistics, only the two major markets of China and the United States can basically maintain a large volume; On the other hand, while improving the company's cash flow, GM has enough initiative in technology research and development and talent reserve by getting rid of the burden.

Obviously, by withdrawing from the weak market and giving up the weak brands, the giant GM is gradually changing from pursuing "big and complete" to "small and refined".

General "gamble"? Bet on the future travel field

After withdrawing from the markets of Australia, New Zealand and Thailand, it is estimated that GM will increase its cash and non-cash expenditure by $65,438+0,654,380 billion this year. At the same time, in 20 18, GM is expected to get 6 billion dollars in two years through a series of measures such as adjusting North American factories, reorganizing global product development departments, integrating production capacity structure and optimizing personnel structure.

So, over the years, where is the "open source" of this large sum of money that GM has "cut" by selling many factories and brands?

"GM is continuing its future-oriented transformation, focusing on sustainable development and achieving long-term and stable business development. We believe that electrification and automation strategies can not only improve the environment, but also create more value for shareholders. " Obviously, in GM's financial report, Mary Bola has revealed to the outside world the development priorities of GM in recent years and in the future.

Of course, the future travel field dominated by electrification and automation is a hot spot for the transformation of traditional car companies, including Toyota, Volkswagen, Honda and many other global car companies. For example, Toyota and Panasonic established a battery joint venture company, and BYD jointly established a pure electric vehicle research and development company; Volkswagen and Ford cooperate in vehicle research and development, electric vehicles and autonomous driving; Daimler and BMW have established joint ventures such as mobile travel services. But there are few companies like General Motors that are almost desperate.

On the one hand, a person in charge of GM revealed: "The investment in electrification and automation needs a lot of money, and GM can only invest in the future by self-transfusion. According to the plan, GM's investment funds for the future will double within two years. "

On the other hand, Dan Nicholson (Dan? Nicholson) previously revealed at the national ethanol conference that his 8000-person R&D team was once completely focused on the development of internal combustion engines. After that, the R&D team was divided into: 70% personnel were responsible for internal combustion engine business and 30% were responsible for electrification. Now, the company will further reverse this ratio, with 30% for internal combustion engines and 70% for electrification.

In other words, whether from the perspective of capital investment or technology research and development investment, GM attaches more importance to the future travel field than the traditional car-making field. So, what achievements has GM made in the future travel field after working so hard?

According to public information, in 20 16, GM acquired the self-driving cruise company, which has grown from 40 employees to 2,000 employees today. At the same time, Cruise introduced new strategic investors on 20 18: Softbank and Honda. Cruise, the prototype of the driverless car, was released in San Francisco in June 2020. Origin. At present, Cruise has been in the leading position on the driverless track.

In 20 17, GM announced the acquisition of Strobe, a lidar technology company, to develop the next generation lidar solution for self-driving cars.

20 16 GM launched Maven*** car-sharing service to arrange travel and car * * *; And bought Raffles, the second largest taxi service company in America, for $500 million? 9% equity; At the same time, it is announced that it will cooperate with Uber, and Uber drivers will lease GM vehicles every week to expand GM's after-sales business.

In terms of electrification, GM and LG set up a joint venture to build a battery factory. In 2020, General Motors announced that it would invest $2.2 billion in the Detroit-Hamtramck plant to produce various brands of pure electric trucks and SUV models, including the new GMC Hummer. In the third quarter of 20021,GM's pure electric pickup truck will be put into production.

Shrink the traditional car-making business and continue to expand the future travel business. Obviously, for GM, what is going on now is a "gamble". If you win the bet, then GM will definitely become one of the leaders in the future travel field. If you lose the bet, GM's recovery will be greatly affected.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.