Boston, MA 06/25/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Although General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) is engulfed with widespread vehicle recall, the company has its eyes on growth and South Korea is a key market that the company has many hopes.
During a recent event to unveil the 2014 CTS mid-size sedan, which was held in South Korea’s capital Seoul, the CEO of GM Korea, Sergio Rocha, expressed confidence in the market. He said the company is planning to grow its presence and market share in the luxury car category and that will involve the introduction of new car platforms. South Korea is one of the international markets that GM is targeting with new and refreshed nameplates as it seeks to increase sales and improve profits.
New nameplates
As a matter of fact, General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) plans to achieve 10 percent market share in South Korea and the company is looking to addition of new dealerships and new vehicle release as promotion to support that growth thesis.
The giant U.S. automaker sold 151,040 units in South Korea last year, which earned it 9.8 percent market share in the country, which suggested a marginal but important improvement of 0.3 percent from a year earlier.
According to the GM Korea official, the company has no plans to lose “volume, share or profitability” in the market and so far things are moving in the right direction for GM Korea.
Nonetheless, GM Korea, which was responsible for the Chevy export to Europe, has been left with excess units following a decision by General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) to pull the model out of Europe. The company is also facing the challenge of high labor costs and strengthening local currency.
Push into international markets
The leading U.S. automakers General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) and Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) are focused on bringing new nameplates to the market this year while targeting the same to international markets in efforts to boost sales at a time when the U.S. auto market is showing signs of saturation. The companies are frantically plotting for a bigger market share in China where auto industry is on the path of exponential growth amid improvement in personal incomes.
Nonetheless, it is worth noting that China is also shaping up to be a battleground between traditional automakers and electric car makers such as Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) because of the country’s clean energy policy that appears to favor electric cars than gasoline-powered vehicles.
