SHANGHAI, China — The closely watched first trip to Asia by President Obama included such sights as a massive motorcade in Beijing, said to be 71 cars long. Obama toured the Great Wall and Forbidden City, but he also was quoted as saying General Motors "can learn from their operations" in China "in terms of increasing sales back in the United States."
Obama, quoted by the AFP news service, was speaking with Shanghai Communist Party secretary Yu Zhengsheng about what Yu called the "fantastic performance" by General Motors in China. Indeed, GM and its Chinese partners have sold more than 1.5 million units and saw sales increase nearly 60 percent in the first 10 months of this year from 2008 figures. In October alone, GM sold 166,911 vehicles in China. That's nearly as many as the 177,603 GM sold in the U.S. last month.
The report on the motorcade in Beijing was twittered by Ed Henry of CNN on Monday. Henry noted that the motorcade included "Chinese greeting vehicles." Video of the sight was not available, although an enterprising videographer did capture an impressive motorcade over the weekend at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, an earlier stop on Obama's visit.
Inside Line says: Visits to China, and attempts by automakers to learn from what's going on in the industry and market of that country, are sure to increase in the years to come. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent
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stingray454 says:
08:17 AM, 11/19/2009
I suppose Mr. Brainiac Obama failed to realize that China's auto market is developing and growing as a relatively new market, while the auto market in the U.S. is very mature and not growing.
Idiots vote for idiots. They stick together.
ferenc says:
07:51 PM, 11/17/2009
hello obama, there is no uaw in china, get it, so go talk to andy stern, your seiu buddy about this.
historics says:
03:52 PM, 11/17/2009
Are we sure that's President Obama's motorcade and not a clip from a previous Rick Wagoner visit?
chewym says:
02:27 PM, 11/17/2009
Actually don't see what GM can learn from China. The reason why GM (and everyother brand) is doing well in China saleswise is because the economy is still strong there, the car market is still "young" and there are many joint ventures and scattered domestic competition. The US economy is shrinking/stagnent, the car market is fully saturated, there is no joint venture system, and GM faces a strong international competition in its home market.