I could not have scripted more appropriate news than this as a follow-up to my last post on senseless protectionism. GM announced Monday that its sales in China surged 67% in 2009, as revenues in the US continue to decline. Based on the graph pictured right, and the fact that only 35 out of every 1,000 Chinese people own vehicles, it seems probable that China will surpass the US as the company’s largest market within a few years. Not to mention, GM apparently has a fair share of the mianbaoche (bread-loaf-shaped van) market, which I can assure you is substantial. By all accounts this should be good news for the ailing Detroit giant and its principle investor — US taxpayers. Apparently not everyone agrees…
Because the U.S. government invested $50 billion to rescue GM from bankruptcy last year, the company has had to deal with complaints that its focus is too international, and that it should try to grow the size of its U.S. business and factories.”
That’s rich. Not only do people want GM to survive, they want it to survive by selling cars only to the people who are paying to keep the company out of bankruptcy. Why doesn’t the US government just buy every taxpayer a Chevy Volt? At least Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with IHS Global Insight, was there to add some sense to the conversation:
Regardless of where they make the money or make the vehicles, the profits come back to the U.S.”
wfrost
kgaines
Yet another example of how little many in the US understand about global business. When Hollywood movies derive 2/3 of their revenue from overseas (or close to 70% in the case of AVATAR), my fellow Americans need to realize that they are falling in overall importance as a market. They should also revel in the fact that American companies still have a market abroad.