FTIW, Here is GM's response to that video:
GM – An American Company
You might have seen an inflammatory video that suggests GM is positioning itself to become "China Motors," which simply is not true. Comments made by GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson were grossly exaggerated and taken out of context to support this claim.
Here are a few facts that you can share with your circle of influence to dispel this rumor:
GM’s global policy is to “build where we sell.” The benefit of this practice lowers the cost of the vehicle for the consumer. GM does business in more than 120 countries.
Roughly 70 percent of GM sales are generated outside of the U.S. In most cases, those vehicles are not exported to the U.S.
There are no vehicles imported from China to the U.S. Every Chevrolet sold in the U.S., with the exception of the Spark, is built in North America. However, there are some vehicles (the Chevy Volt, Buick Enclave and Cadillac SRX, CTS and Escalade) that are exported from the U.S. to China.
GM started doing business in China in the 1920s and exited the market following the 1949 Chinese Revolution. GM returned to the country in the late 1990s in partnership with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC) and formed the Shanghai GM (SGM) joint venture (JV) to produce Buicks in China. Other auto manufacturers like Ford, VW and BMW are now racing to the China market in order to play catch up to GM's sales success.
GM did not use U.S. government bailout money to build its manufacturing footprint in China. Since the bankruptcy, GM has announced investments at 30 U.S. facilities totaling more than $7.1 billion, which created or retained 17,800 jobs.
GM emerged from bankruptcy as a more nimble and robust company. GM employs 77,000 people in the U.S. and 205,000 people globally.
In order to do business in China, every manufacturer must have a JV partnership with a Chinese company. GM has strategic partnerships in 30 countries, including China, that positions the GM brand as a leading automaker in the world’s largest and fastest-growing automotive markets.
Last year, a Chinese patriotic film, The Birth of the Party, was produced to recognize the 90th anniversary of the communist party. The film was sponsored by SGM, not GM. SGM is a company owned jointly by GM and SAIC, one of the world’s largest industrial companies. As part of the sponsorships, Cadillac SLS vehicles were provided to transport the crew and actors. These vehicles were not filmed in the movie itself. GM did not endorse the film and does not have operational control of SGM.
C'mon. Let's not confuse the issue with facts.
