The Chinese obsession continues, as all automakers struggle to get their foot in the door and start selling cars to the full potential of what they think the flourishing market is capable of handling. This week, GM received approval to build a factory in China, in order to manufacture Cadillac-branded luxury automobiles for the local market – they currently only build the XTS locally.
The new plant is expected to have an annual capacity of 150,000 units, and its construction and tooling will set the American giant back some $1.3 / €0.99 billion. Cadillac is going to such extreme lengths, and are investing this much, in order to avoid the country’s steep 25 percent import duty, following in the footsteps of other premium automakers, like Audi and BMW.
However, Cadillac has a lot of catching up to do, as last year, it only managed to sell 30,010 units in China, whereas Audi shifted 405,838 units, followed by BMW with 327,341 and Mercedes-Benz with 196,211.
It has not been specified which models the company is going to build at the new plant (the ATS is a possibility), and if it is planning any special long-wheelbase versions – most of the other manufacturers have them, and Cadillac would be shooting itself in the foot if it ignored this trend and just offered the cars it sells everywhere else…
By Andrei Nedelea
Story References: Bloomberg News
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