Can SAIC-GM see the light after the reorganization when the proportion of new energy reaches 50%?

On October 21st, General Motors released its financial results for the third quarter of 2025. Its revenue reached $48.6 billion, remaining flat year - on - year; net profit was $1.3 billion, a 57% year - on - year decrease; and adjusted EBIT was $3.4 billion, an 18% year - on - year decline.

Meanwhile, General Motors expects its full - year net profit in 2025 to be between $7.7 billion and $8.3 billion; adjusted EBIT is projected to be between $12 billion and $13 billion, compared with the previous quarter's expectation of $10 billion to $12.5 billion; automotive business cash flow is expected to be between $19.2 billion and $21.2 billion; and adjusted automotive business cash flow is expected to be between $10 billion and $11 billion.

In the third quarter of 2025, General Motors sold 469,000 vehicles in China, a 10.9% year - on - year increase, marking the third consecutive quarter of year - on - year sales growth. General Motors pointed out that in China, the sales of its new energy vehicles and pure - electric vehicles have achieved year - on - year growth for ten consecutive quarters since the second quarter of 2023. Benefiting from the sales recovery, General Motors has achieved profitability in China for four consecutive quarters.

Can General Motors completely emerge from the trough in China and return to its former glory?

Restructuring the Chinese Business after Losses

In recent years, General Motors has faced development bottlenecks in the Chinese market, with its sales gradually declining. From 2022 to 2024, its sales volumes were 2.3 million, 2.09 million, and over 1.8 million vehicles respectively.

Data shows that General Motors mainly has two joint - venture companies in China: SAIC - GM and SAIC - GM - Wuling. According to the official website of General Motors (China), it operates five major brands in China: Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Baojun, and Wuling. Among them, Buick, Chevrolet, and Cadillac are managed by SAIC - GM; Wuling and Baojun are managed by SAIC - GM - Wuling.

The decline in General Motors' sales is mainly due to SAIC - GM. From 2022 to 2024, SAIC - GM's sales volumes were 1.1701 million, 1.001 million, and 0.435 million vehicles respectively, with year - on - year decreases of 12.13%, 14.45%, and 56.54% respectively; SAIC - GM - Wuling's sales volumes were 1.6 million, 1.4031 million, and 1.3401 million vehicles respectively, with year - on - year decreases of 3.62%, 12.31%, and 4.49% respectively.

With the significant decline in sales, General Motors initiated the restructuring of its Chinese business. In December 2024, General Motors announced that it would record a non - temporary impairment of $2.6 billion to $2.9 billion for its equity in Chinese joint - ventures, and recognize an additional equity loss of approximately $2.7 billion due to the implementation of the SAIC - GM restructuring plan. This part of the loss includes the impairment charges related to factory closures and portfolio optimization to be recognized by Chinese joint - ventures.

In the same month, SAIC Group announced that it would record asset impairment provisions of 23.212 billion yuan for SAIC - GM and its holding subsidiaries, including SAIC - GM Dongyue Automobile Co., Ltd., SAIC - GM (Shenyang) Beisheng Automobile Co., Ltd., and SAIC - GM Dongyue Power Assembly Co., Ltd. (i.e., Dongyue Factory) in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Due to the significant decline in sales in 2024 and the recording of asset impairment, SAIC - GM incurred losses. In 2024, SAIC - GM's revenue was 68.747 billion yuan, and its net profit attributable to the parent company was - 26.688 billion yuan; SAIC - GM - Wuling's revenue was 77.934 billion yuan, and its net profit attributable to the parent company was 1.045 billion yuan.

In addition to the restructuring, both SAIC - GM and SAIC - GM - Wuling have made management adjustments. Lu Xiao, the former executive deputy general manager of Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center, replaced Zhuang Jingxiong as the general manager of SAIC - GM. Xue Haitao, the former deputy general manager of SAIC - GM - Wuling, replaced Lu Yi as the deputy general manager of SAIC - GM.

After this adjustment, General Motors has given the Chinese management team greater autonomy in product definition and business decision - making. The two newly appointed managers, Lu Xiao, leads the product - side reform, and Xue Haitao is responsible for marketing.

Chinese Team Leads Electrification

Since the business restructuring, General Motors' electrification process in China has been accelerating, and the Buick brand has become the "pioneer" of the reform.

In February 2025, SAIC - GM's Buick brand officially adopted a new pricing model for new energy vehicles, becoming the first in the joint - venture camp to fully implement the "fixed - price" strategy, that is, a unified national price.

In April, Buick launched the new energy MPV, the Buick GL8 Lushang, with a starting price of 249,900 yuan. In August 2025, the new plug - in hybrid version of the Buick GL8 Avenir was launched, targeting the mid - to - large luxury new energy MPV market, with a price range of 339,900 to 399,900 yuan. According to media reports, after General Motors decentralized power to the Chinese team, the new plug - in hybrid version of the GL8 Avenir completed its replacement in 16 months, while previously, General Motors' iteration cycle was basically 36 months.

According to the electric vehicle sales ranking on Chezhuzhijia, in the first nine months of 2025, the Buick GL8 new energy vehicles sold 40,852 units, with an average monthly sales volume of about 4,539 units. In 2024, the cumulative sales of the Buick GL8 new energy vehicles were 23,056 units, with an average monthly sales volume of 1,921 units. Obviously, after the launch of new models led by the Chinese team, the sales of the Buick GL8 new energy vehicles have significantly increased.

It is worth mentioning that in April 2025, Buick launched its high - end new energy brand, Buick Zhijing, and released the new Buick "Xiaoyao" super - integrated architecture, which can support three full - body forms: MPV, SUV, and sedan, as well as three new energy technologies: pure - electric, plug - in hybrid, and range - extended. Buick also announced that starting from 2025, all new model line - ups launched by Buick in the Chinese market will be new energy vehicles; within the next two years, Buick will achieve full coverage of the main price segments of new energy vehicles.

Lu Xiao said that six Zhijing models will be launched in the market in the next 12 months. "The goal of these new energy products is definitely to be profitable, and they will all be equipped with the new - generation intelligent cockpit and assisted - driving technologies." "By 2026, the sales of new energy vehicles of SAIC - GM will account for more than 50%, and by 2027, it will even reach 60%. All these new energy products must be profitable."

In September, its first model, the Zhijing L7, was launched, targeting the mid - to - large range - extended sedan market, with an official starting price of 169,900 yuan. Buick officially announced that within 19 days of its launch, the number of firm orders exceeded 12,000 units.

Data shows that the Zhijing L7 is equipped with the "Xiaoyao Zhixing" assisted - driving system and the Momenta R6 Flywheel large - scale model based on end - to - end "reinforcement learning", which can provide full - scenario assisted - driving functions such as "seamless" urban NOA and "one - key parking without stopping". At the same time, in the new energy sedan market between 200,000 and 300,000 yuan, the range - extended segment remains a market gap, mainly consisting of pure - electric and fuel - powered vehicles. SAIC - GM plans to increase sales with the range - extended sedan, the Zhijing L7.

On October 20th, the Zhijing L7 started deliveries, and its current sales data is not yet known.

After the Chinese team took the lead, General Motors' electrification process in China has been accelerating. However, changes in the US market have also slowed down General Motors' overall electrification process. On October 14th, General Motors said in a regulatory filing that with a series of recent policy adjustments by the US government, including the termination of some consumer tax credits related to electric vehicle purchases and the relaxation of emission standards, it expects the penetration rate of electric vehicles in the US to slow down. At the same time, General Motors announced that it would record $1.6 billion in related expenses for re - evaluating its electric vehicle production capacity, of which $1.2 billion is for non - cash impairment and other expenses related to the adjustment of electric vehicle production capacity.

Through business restructuring, management reshuffle, and granting greater autonomy to the local team, General Motors' electrification process in China has significantly accelerated. The transformation of the Buick brand has initially shown results, especially the increase in the sales of the GL8 new energy vehicles and the launch of the Zhijing series, which demonstrate certain market potential. However, despite the continuous growth in sales and the improvement in profitability, whether General Motors can truly return to its peak still depends on its ability to continuously launch competitive products and achieve large - scale profitability in the fierce new energy competition.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Visibility in the Auto Circle", author: Wei He. It is published by 36Kr with permission.