General Motors Corporation is looking to strengthen its position in China and wants its future models to appeal to the Chinese more than those of GM offers today. To this end, GM renovated and greatly expanded its Shanghai design center (GM China Advanced Design Center) in 2021 and hired many young Chinese specialists to work in it. Proxima is the first full-size concept made in this center after the renovation, it shows what Chinese GM novelties will be like in the next 5-10 years.
China accounts for about 40% of GM's global sales; last year, the American corporation sold 2.3 million vehicles here, which is 20.4% less than it was in 2021. Since 2015, GM’s share in the Chinese market has decreased from 14.9% to 9.8%, so it’s hardly possible to blame only COVID-19 for poor performance — a whole range of factors work against GM in China, including the rapid development of local, Chinese brands, many of which are now setting sales records.
Last year, all GM brands represented in China (Baojun, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Wuling) showed a double-digit drop in sales — this is evidenced by the official reporting of the corporation. More recent statistics from CAAM (China Automobile Manufacturers Association) for January-April 2023 show that Cadillac is doing well with 51,528 vehicles sold (+11.2% compared to January-April 2022), Wuling is holding up well ( 199,608 units, +0.4%), while the other three brands continue to fall: Buick sold 150,479 cars (-15.1%), Chevrolet — 50,279 units. (-32.4%), Baojun — 3649 units. (-92.9%). For comparison, let's say that the leader of the Chinese market is now the BYD brand, its sales in the first four months of this year increased by 70.3% to 667,899 units. In short, BYD alone sells significantly more cars than all GM in China.
GM management, of course, carefully analyzes the state of affairs in the Chinese market and tries to understand why the Chinese consumer is losing interest, for example, in the once coveted Buicks. Sales of the Buick brand in China in 2015 confidently crossed the barrier of a million cars a year, and after 2018 they declined sharply. The point, as we said above, is intensifying competition from Chinese brands and, possibly, in design. />
The GM design center in Shanghai, like the three other nodal design centers of the corporation, until 2021 worked, so to speak, in the general outline, that is, within the framework of the corporation's global strategy. Now he is more focused on the Chinese market, doing in-depth research on local tastes in order to «establish an emotional connection with future buyers of electric vehicles in China.» There are many young Chinese specialists in the design center team, the Proxima concept is their work.The name Proxima comes from the Portuguese word proximo, which translates into Russian as “next” – they say, this is how the new Chinese GM models will look like. Buick emblems on the concept do not mean that the Proxima will be released under this brand, and it is not at all certain that such a car will be, GM only wanted to demonstrate a new approach to development with this concept and measure the reaction of the Chinese audience.
The Proxima was designed as a flagship electric sedan, so it has a long wheelbase combined with a rather short bonnet. The large gullwing doors are certainly eye-catching and may well go to production models. In the cabin — no leather, the finish is made from recycled materials and environmentally friendly materials of plant origin. There is no information about the technical stuffing, it is not important in this case. The important thing is that the design code developed in Shanghai could very well go global, so GM's American customers had better prepare mentally.
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