On February 17, General Motors, which has won the global automobile sales champion for more than 70 years in a row, officially announced that it would accelerate its withdrawal from many markets with limited profitability, and planned to gradually end its sales, design and engineering research and development business in Australia and New Zealand before the end of 20021and eliminate the local Horton brand.
According to statistics, GM sold 7.7 million vehicles worldwide last year, down nearly 8% year-on-year, and its net profit dropped by 65,438+07.4% year-on-year to US$ 6.7 billion. After taking into account the loss of $3.6 billion caused by the strike of the United Auto Workers' Union, the adjusted income before interest and tax was $8.4 billion, down 28.8% year-on-year. In order to solve the problem of "domestic troubles and foreign invasion", GM had to reorganize its global automobile business and accelerate its retreat from some unprofitable markets.
In fact, on the surface, this evacuation only closed unprofitable companies in the two countries, but if you know something about GM, it is not difficult to find that in 20 17, GM sold Opel and vauxhall to Peugeot Citroen Group, and at the same time withdrew from South Africa and other African markets. Previously, GM announced its withdrawal from several markets, such as Japan, India, Russia and Europe, simply because these markets did not occupy a significant market scale.
However, it is worth mentioning that the announcement of withdrawing from Australia, New Zealand and other Australian markets was strongly opposed by the Australian authorities. Australian officials are disappointed with GM's decision because Australian taxpayers have invested billions of dollars in this multinational car company. In fact, GM's local business scale is not large, and the cancellation of the "Horton" brand will cause 600 employees to lose their jobs, but nearly 200 employees will not lose their jobs due to warranty and telephone business for the time being.
In addition, GM will withdraw its Chevrolet brand from Thailand before the end of this year, and eventually withdraw from all markets except the United States and China. In this regard, MaryBarra, CEO of General Motors, said: "The company wants to focus on markets that can bring strong returns. During the transition period, GM will support local employees and customers. "
Summary:
According to an insider of General Motors, restructuring the international business outside China can improve the company's profit margin. In fact, in recent years, almost all of GM's profits have come from China and the United States. In the global sales of 7.7 million vehicles last year, the China market contributed 3.09 million vehicles, accounting for 40% of its marketing share. Adopting the strategy of "overall slimming" can concentrate superior strength and improve the output value of enterprises. At the same time, with the continuous improvement of new energy technology and autonomous driving technology, in the fierce competition in the automobile industry, the old guns in the traditional automobile industry like GM must keep pace with the times and lay out the future with a development perspective in order to finally win the market.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.