DETROIT: China is the new El Dorado for US automakers looking to develop sales of their luxury brands, which globally are lagging behind German and Japanese competitors.
General Motors, the largest US automaker, already sells more cars in China each month than it does in its home market and expects that to continue.
"Our joint ventures in China are working to boost production capacity by 30 percent to more than five million units annually by 2015," GM executive Mary Barra told the firm's annual shareholders meeting.
GM launched a Chinese-produced luxury sedan, the XTS, last year and is steadily adding more vehicles to its Cadillac range.
"Cadillac is already a very profitable business for us today and GM expects to see substantial growth for its luxury brand over the next few years, particularly in China where young consumers are open to new brands," said Dan Ammann, GM president.
GM a few months ago poached Johan De Nysschen, the former executive of Nissan's luxury Audi and Infiniti brands, to head the Cadillac brand.
The nameplate, part of GM since 1909, traces its roots to the French founder of Detroit -- today the heart of the US auto industry -- Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac.
China will become a "volume hub" for the Cadillac brands, De Nysschen said recently.
China, the world's largest auto market, accounts for about 25 percent of global luxury car sales and its share is only growing. German automakers including Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen hold about 80 percent of the "premium" market.
Cadillac will soon launch in China a new full-sized sedan for owners who use a chauffeur and a smaller sports utility vehicle, burnishing the brand's reputation for building distinctive vehicles, he said.
"China has indeed has been a very rewarding market for GM. We've benefited from the tremendous growth. China has taken a very big role in GM and China's voice is a very strong voice within GM," GM China president Matt Tsien said during a recent conference in Wuhan. GM created the post in January to coordinate the US company's growing operations in China.
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