General Motors Co. has announced that it will import the China-made plug-in hybrid version of the Cadillac CT6 luxury sedan to the U.S., barely two days after it unveiled its first new vehicle from Detroit’s Big 3, which was similarly imported from China, China Daily reported.
The report said that GM's plug-in hybrid CT6 will be made at a plant in China, although the company also plans to make the CT6 at a plant in Detroit.
Sean McAlinden, vice president for strategic studies and chief economist at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said that the major reason why GM will build the plug-in hybrid CT6 in China is the expected small size of the potential market for the hybrid car.
"Hybrid sales were off by 20 percent in the U.S. last year due to low gasoline prices (below $2 a gallon). So the hybrid CT6 would not sell well in the U.S. just like the hybrid Lexus models. We only need a few," McAlinden said.
According to McAlinden, the Detroit plant where the CT6 will be built "will also start to produce the Chevrolet Camaro next year, which will fill out capacity at that plant."
The report said that GM also plans to sell the plug-in hybrid CT6 in China.
"Hybrids make great sense in China compared to electric vehicles because of the heavy use of coal to produce electricity," McAlinden said.
The report said that the move to sell the two Chinese-made vehicles indicated that GM is confident in the quality of the products that are produced in China.
"Longer term, we should see more of this because GM's Chinese operations have every capability required to provide cars for North America," said Eric Noble, president of CarLab, a consulting firm in Orange, California. "They would import here instead of from Europe because Chinese consumer tastes align more closely to American tastes than Europe's ever did."
The report added that the new Lincoln Continental full-size sedan, unveiled by Ford Motor Co., GM's chief rival, on Tuesday, Jan. 12, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, is scheduled to go on sale in the U.S. and China later this year.
China is also expected to play a key role in Lincoln's revival of the Continental as part of a multiyear, multibillion-dollar comeback.
"We believe there will be a sizable market for this vehicle in the U.S. and China," Lincoln spokesman Stephane Cesareo told China Daily in 2015, adding that the company expects to have 60 dealerships in the country by the end of 2016.
"China represents a critical part of our strategy," Cesareo added. "Our goal is to develop a strong network of dealers in the country's major cities."