On October 24th, General Motors released its third quarter financial report, showing a revenue of $44.131 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5.35%. The net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders was $3.038 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 7.32%.
Overall, General Motors' financial performance in the third quarter is still higher than analysts' previous expectations. Regarding the decline in profits in the third quarter, General Motors stated that part of the reason was due to the impact of the Federation of Automotive Workers and the (UAW) strike, which resulted in a decrease of approximately $200 million in profits in the third quarter.
Due to the uncertainty brought about by the strike, General Motors has also withdrawn its profit guidance for the entire year. Previously, the company expected pre interest and tax profits to reach $12 billion to $14 billion in 2023.
In terms of sales, General Motors' global sales increased slightly to 1.619 million units in the third quarter, with 674300 units sold in the US market, a year-on-year increase of 21%, higher than analysts' previous expectations of 15% to 16%.
Although GM has achieved growth in sales both globally and domestically in the United States, its performance in the Chinese market continues to decline. According to the financial report, General Motors' sales in China in the third quarter decreased by 14% year-on-year to 542000 vehicles, although there was a slight increase from 520000 vehicles in the second quarter.
Correspondingly, General Motors' market share in China has also dropped to 8.3%. General Motors' market share in China reached 14.9% in 2015, falling below 10% for the first time last year.
According to the sales data disclosed by General Motors China for the third quarter, its sales in China are still dominated by brands such as Buick, Wuling, and Baojun. The Buick brand has sold over 151000 vehicles, while the Wuling and Baojun brands have sold over 295000 vehicles in total. Cadillac and Chevrolet have sold 45000 vehicles and 50000 vehicles respectively.
General Motors stated in its financial report that the Chinese market is important for its global growth strategy and is adopting a multi brand strategy. In the coming years, General Motors plans to leverage its global architecture to increase the number of products from Buick, Chevrolet, and Cadillac brands in China, and continue to develop business under local brands such as Baojun and Wuling, while accelerating the development and launch of various electric vehicles in China.
General Motors mainly has two joint venture car companies in China - SAIC GM and SAIC GM Wuling. Among them, SAIC GM Wuling, with micro electric vehicles as the main force, saw a year-on-year decrease of 17.65% in sales in the first three quarters, mainly due to the overall shrinkage of its market and fierce competition among similar models.
Under the influence of the increasing penetration rate of new energy, SAIC General Motors, which is mainly driven by gasoline vehicles, has also experienced a significant decline in sales. In the first three quarters, SAIC General Motors sold 724300 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 15.18%.
Last November, SAIC General Motors released its latest plan to accelerate its electrification transformation, with a total investment of 70 billion yuan in new technologies such as electrification and intelligent networking by 2025. Buick, Chevrolet, and Cadillac have launched a total of 10 Audi platform electric models.
However, SAIC General Motors' first new energy model, the Cadillac Lyriq, built on the Autotronic pure electric platform, had a poor start, with a cumulative insurance coverage of less than 3000 vehicles last year.
With the launch of two lower positioned Buick models based on the Autotronic platform, the situation has begun to improve. Since the launch of the Electra E5 and Electra E4 pure electric SUVs in the second quarter, their sales have reached 20000 units. Among them, the monthly sales of Electra E5 reached 4868 units in September.
On October 20th, the Buick Electra E5 added a new avant-garde model, with a price drop of 169900 yuan, directly pushing into the hinterland of its own brand, and its sales are expected to further increase.