Shanghai, April 10 (Gasgoo.com) An executive of GM China has denied a media report that General Motors would sell to its Chinese partner SAIC Motor the Buick brand or the exclusive rights to use this brand in China, Guangzhou Daily reported today.
The GM official in China told the newspaper that Buick will remain to be one of the four core brands of General Motors, and dismissed the earlier news story about GM's possible selling of its Buick brand as "a rumor."
According to its recently released restructuring plans, the struggling U.S. auto giant GM indicated that it would keep Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC as its four core brands but didn't ruled out the possibility of selling its other brands.
Asked whether SAIC had expressed any intention to buy the Buick brand from its U.S. partner, the GM China executive replied that there was no need to comment on "a highly speculative report."
An auto industry analyst in China said that GM has allowed SAIC to use GM technologies and brands in their joint ventures, so it seems unnecessary for the Chinese auto giant to buy any of the brands or the rights to use these brands in China.
SAIC is focused on expanding its domestic market share and has no plans for global mergers and acquisitions, China Securities Journal said today. However, the company will continue to monitor the global auto market and seek suitable development opportunities, SAIC president Chen Hong was quoted saying.
GM said its China sales in March rose 24.6% from a year earlier to 137,004 vehicles, setting a company record for monthly sales. The strong sales growth is attributed to new product offerings. GM aims to double its annual sales in China to 2 million vehicles in five years.
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