General Motors to make more electric vehicles

General Motors Company is planning an electric car offensive in China with more than 40 per cent of its new launches in the country over the next five years set to be electric vehicles (EVs), the US carmaker said yesterday.

GM’s electric vehicles, many of which will be all-electric battery cars, will be manufactured in China with almost all parts coming from local suppliers, the company said in a statement released at its Tech Day event in Shanghai.

Reuters reported earlier that GM was planning to overhaul its Chinese line-up to stem a slide of sales after more than two decades of growth in a country that contributes nearly a fifth of its profit.

GM’s new China boss Julian Blissett told Reuters that new technologies, such as EVs and cars with near hands-free driving for highways, would play a key role in GM’s China initiatives, which are part of a push to get annual sales in the country back to the four million peak it hit in 2017.

GM did not say in its statement how many new or significantly redesigned models it was planning to launch in China over the next five years.

"China will play a crucial role in making our vision a reality," GM Chief Executive Mary Barra said in the statement, referring to its initiative to create what it describes as a future of “zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion” through electrification and smart-driving technologies.

GM has said it plans to invest more than Sh2 trillion ($20 billion) in electric and automated vehicles globally by 2025. It was not clear how much of that investment will be spent in China.