Charged up about the opportunity to deliver electric vehicles (EVs) to the Chinese market, General Motors (GM -0.17%) announced today that over the next five years, more than 40% of the company's new launches in China, its largest market, will be all-electric or hybrids. In addition, GM stated that it plans to manufacture the vehicles in China, using mostly parts from local suppliers.
Speaking recently with Reuters, Julian Blissett, president of GM China, provided a sense of how committed the carmaker is to the EV market: "In the next five years, more than 50% of our capital and engineering deployment will go toward electrification and autonomous-drive technology. That should give you an indication where GM is betting on its future."
Image source: Getty Images.
Over the past two years, GM has faced declining demand for its vehicles in China. It delivered 4 million units in 2017, indicating 14.3% market share, declining to deliveries of 3.6 million units in 2018 and 3.1 million units in 2019, representing market share of 13.7% and 12.2%, respectively.
GM's renewed effort to gain a greater foothold in the Chinese EV market may place greater pressure on Tesla (TSLA -1.92%), which recognized reduced demand in July. Registrations for Tesla's vehicles built in China plummeted 24% from 14,976 in June to 11,456 in July. NIO (NIO -5.00%), on the other hand, is enjoying considerable demand for its EVs. The China-based EV manufacturer reported that it delivered 3,533 units last month, the company's second-highest month in terms of deliveries.
