With sales tanking and liquidity issues at home in the US, General Motors has been talking up its sales in other regions of the world.
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Case in point: Chevrolet brand growth of 77% in Africa and General Motors African Operations’ first half sales of over 111,000 vehicles, up 36% year on year, and the first time the 100k mark has been cracked during this period.
GM’s sales rose 95% in Egypt and 82% in north and west Africa and eyes are on at least 200,000 units for the full year.
“We’re looking for 2008 to be another record-setting sales year for our African operations,” GM African Operations president Stevan Koch said. “It’s gratifying to see the tremendous growth of our Chevrolet brand throughout the continent.”
Small and mid-size vehicle sales soared 123%led by the GM Daewoo-sourced Optra, up 154%.
“We’ve been building momentum for the last several years in Africa tripling our business between 2002 and 2007,” Koch added.
This year, GM is launching 19 new vehicles in the region where it has 200 dealers and about 300 points of sale.
“We are on pace to achieve our fifth consecutive year of record sales in Africa,” Koch said. “With our strong network partnerships and the growing popularity of the Chevrolet brand throughout the continent, I’m very confident we’ll see it happen.”
However, a report this week said over 500 workers could be axed at General Motors South Africa if the company and workers’ union can’t agree on alternative measures.
The report said 60-day talks between automaker and National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (Numsa) started on 1 July after sales fell 15% in that market during the first half.
A GM spokeswoman was quoted as saying the company would consider all alternatives, such as firing temporary workers, short-time working and cutting overtime, before making permanent staff redundant.
