Vauxhall chairman Kevin Wale has been named the new president and managing director of the General Motors China Group, replacing Phil Murtaugh, whose resignation, for “personal reasons”, was announced by GM on Wednesday.
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“Kevin has a proven track record in sales, marketing, planning, finance and overall management,” said GM CEO Rick Wagoner. “In addition, his strong background in the region and ability to work within partnerships make him a natural choice to continue our participation in the growth of the Chinese automotive industry and market.”
Prior to the post at Vauxhall in England, Wale served as head of General Motors Asia Pacific and was responsible for the general management of GM’s operations in the region, spanning 15 countries.
GM Asia Pacific head Troy Clarke said: ” He has done a great job with Vauxhall. His familiarity with China and Asia Pacific comes from playing a key role in the development of our product and growth strategies, which laid the groundwork for our current presence. We are excited to have him back.”
Wale’s many posts within GM have included director of finance and strategic planning and director of sales and marketing at Holden in Australia.
Wale, 50, was born in Holden’s home town of Melbourne.
He faces a challenging task ahead. The GM China Group includes seven joint ventures and two wholly owned enterprises in mainland China, and operations in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
His predecessor, Murtaugh, oversaw explosive growth at GM’s China operations and played a key role in the launch of Shanghai GM, the company’s biggest mainland venture – he was also responsible for Taiwan.
GM earlier this month shocked investors by warning that it would post a substantial loss in the first quarter of this year and by slashing its 2005 profit outlook to less than half earlier forecasts – it is threatened with a possible downgrade in its credit rating to junk-level status.
However, GM regards its China operations as a success story. Sales at its flagship joint venture with Shanghai Automotive, or SAIC, and a separate joint venture with SAIC and Wuling Automotive climbed 27% year-on-year to nearly 500,000 vehicles last year, a market share of more than 9%, and GM forecasts double-digit growth in sales for this year.
However, GM, like other automakers, has seen growth in sales slow sharply recently due to rising competition and efforts by the Chinese government to slow economic growth.
Passenger car makers saw their profits plunge by 78.4% in the first two months of 2005, compared with the same period a year ago, as rising prices for raw materials such as steel raised production costs while prices fell. Sales in January and February were down 5.9% compared with the same period a year earlier.
