General Motors, seeking to expand its presence in the booming Chinese market for electrified vehicles, expects to raise combined annual electrified-vehicle production capacity at its two joint ventures in China to one million by 2025.
By 2030, more than half of the production capacity at the company’s joint ventures with SAIC and SAIC-Wuling will be dedicated to producing electrified vehicles, GM’s China unit said, citing a sustainability report the Detroit automaker published this month.
GM China didn’t disclose current annual electrified-vehicle production capacity at its two joint ventures with SAIC Motor Corp. – SAIC-GM and SAIC-GM-Wuling.
SAIC-GM builds Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet cars and light trucks. Its electrified-vehicle products include three Buick models -- the Velite 7 full electric crossover, and full-electric and plug-in hybrid versions of the Velite 6 hatchback; and one Chevrolet product, the Menlo full-electric crossover.
The joint venture plans to begin deliveries of the Cadillac Lyriq electric crossover to customers later this year.
SAIC-GM assembles vehicles in Shanghai, the east China city of Yantai, the northeast China city of Shenyang and the central China city of Wuhan.
SAIC-GM-Wuling mainly produces minibuses under the Wuling brand and entry-level cars for the Baojun marque. It currently assembles two-seat micro full electric sedans for both brands.
The company has two plants in the southwest China city of Liuzhou, one in the east China city of Qingdao and one in the southwest China municipality of Chongqing.
GM didn’t disclose sales of electrified vehicles at the two joint ventures.
While China’s zero-COVID policy has sapped overall new vehicle demand in the past two months with lockdowns and travel restrictions, electrified-vehicle sales continue to forge ahead.
In May, sales of full-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids industrywide more than doubled to some 447,000 with year-to-date volume surging 110 percent to exceed 2 million.
