GM is set to limit its investments in money-losing markets by combining all of its operations outside of China and the U.S. into a new organization based in Detroit.
From January 1, 2018, the carmaker will combine the leadership of regions including Southeast Asia, India, Oceania and South America into a single operation to be led by the current president of GM South America, Barry Engle.
Reuters reports that the move will enable GM to save money and ultimately increase its spending on next-generation vehicles.
“Our strategy (is) to refocus our traditional business operations to free up the resources and financial power needed to really step into the next chapter of the automotive industry,” executive vice president of GM’s International Operations, Stefan Jacoby said.
In 2016, GM lost money in both its Asia/Pacific and Latin American operations and is therefore continuing to ramp up its efforts to focus more heavily on money-making regions. As part of these ongoing efforts, GM has already ceased manufacturing in Indonesia and Australia, decreased efforts to sell vehicles in India and exited Europe with the sale of Opel to PSA Group.