Following the appointment of former Infiniti chief Johan de Nysschen to lead the struggling luxury brand, GM’s China president, Matt Tsien, voiced confidence in the new executive’s appreciation for the world’s largest auto market.
“We’re very optimistic about the luxury market, we believe that the luxury market by 2016 here will become the largest luxury market in the world, surpassing even the size of luxury in Europe,” Tsien said, as quoted by Bloomberg.
GM is not the only major automaker to set its sights on China, though the country is particularly important for Cadillac as its sales continue to stagnate in the US and other markets. Appealing to local luxury tastes, the company recently unveiled a long-wheelbase ATS-L that will precede additional models built in and for China.
Combining all brands, GM set a 2013 sales record in China with nearly 3.2 million vehicles leaving showrooms in the country. Buick accounted for a significant portion, followed by Chevrolet.
Looking forward to 2015, GM plans to invest billions in expanding local production capacity to help meet a 100,000-unit sales target for Cadillac models.
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