GM India/South Africa : A Disappointment

This bakkie wasn't enough to save Chevrolet South Africa

GM has decided to stop selling cars in India but keep on making them there. I find that hard to fathom. By making cars there, surely that avoids import duty and allows the cars to be sold profitably. Despite being in the market over 20 years, it still had less that 1% market share. For that reason the plug has been pulled.

At the same time, the decision has been made to leave South Africa, both in manufacturing and sales. The plant will be taken over by Isuzu, who currently share it. This means Chevrolet will leave the RSA after over 90 years there. As for the Opel brand, it will be up to PSA to take that over if they wish.

Sales of Chev have been in free fall while Opel has held up better. Market share for passenger cars dropped from 7.7% in 2012 to 3.3% for 2016. The decline would have been worse but for Opel. Light commercial vehicles fared slightly better, from 12.1% in 2012 to 7.9% in 2016.

	GM Passenger Car Sales : RSA
	Make/Yr	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
	Chevrolet	31,183	23,328	21,621	14,389	7,847
	Opel	2,704	2,603	3,598	6,486	4,101
	Total	33,887	25,931	25,219	20,875	11,948
	Share	7.7%	5.8%	5.7%	5.1%	3.3%
	GM LCV Sales : RSA
	Chevrolet	19,556	18,484	16,865	16,693	12,578
	Share	12.1%	11.0%	9.7%	9.6%	7.9%

There is no point in running operations that are losing money. However, as to why GM struggles to make money while other succeed is a valid question. Whatever the reasons, GM has decided to terminate its problem areas rather than continue to try fix them.

Data source: Naamsa.