GM thinks bigger in China with plan to import full-size SUVs

Fabulous idea, send China those big gas guzzlers in exchange for their EVs. What could go wrong?

@happyhere

send China those big gas guzzlers in exchange for their EVs. What could go wrong?

Nothing wrong, big gas guzzling SUVs are very popular in China. Chinese and Korean auto markets actually resemble the US market, lots of expensive SUVs sold, on top of tons of European luxury vehicles.

Chinese consumers can now afford Escalades and Tahoes, Japanese consumers not so much.

GM won't be able to make them fast enough for the Chinese market. I still laugh on my last visit to Shanghai getting on an expressway the car in front of us was a brand new Camaro SS, all murdered out in black everything chirping the tires as it accelerated up the ramp. Momma's neighbors drive Grand Cherokees or Nissan Patrols decked out in full safari swag (maybe you might need an intake snorkel if Shanghai was hit with a typhoon, lol), big roof rack mounted floodlights, gas cans, the works. You see Escalades, Jeeps (even a CJ with an Iowa plate next to the Chinese plate) and all kinds of smaller SUVs.

@samit basu

Don't know of any Japanese that would be proud of driving an Escalade around Kyoto getting 15 mpg.

Don't know of any Japanese that would be proud of driving an Escalade around Kyoto getting 15 mpg.

Completely different markets. You cannot imagine how surprised I was on my first visit to China to see so many big American cars on the roads, including Chevy, Buick and Cadillac branded models I never saw before, along with seas of Toyotas, Audis, Mercedes and BMWs. Yes there are Chinese brands but they seem to be a minority of cars, while Chinese brands seem to dominate vans.