GM: 8th China plant needed for sales goal

Shanghai, April 16 (Gasgoo.com) General Motors Corp may need to build at most one more plant, or the eighth one, in China to meet its ambitious sales goal set for the market, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing a senior executive from GM China.

Kevin Wale, head of GM China Group, was quote by the newspaper as saying that "GM China is pretty well-placed to do a lot of growth at the moment without having to spend a lot of money."

"We would probably need at most one new facility to get to two million units," he said.

Mr. Wale did not say whether GM is already planning an additional factory in China, but said that most of GM's existing plants in China have been designed and built with flexibility for expansion, and that GM will try to squeeze more production capacity out of those existing plants.

GM announced last week that it would double its annual sales in China to 2 million vehicles in five years. To achieve the target the U.S. auto maker plans to add more than 30 new or upgraded models in China in the next five years.

GM already has five plants operated with major Chinese joint-venture partner SAIC Motor Corp. GM also has two additional plants run by a separate, three-way venture GM jointly operates with SAIC and Wuling.

Shanghai GM rolls out Chevrolet Cruze at its 7th China plant in Shenyang last December.
The company said it may need to build an eighth plant in China to meet its sales goal.