Output at GM’s main joint venture falls again

Vehicle output at General Motors’ partnership with SAIC Motor Corp., which builds Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet cars and light trucks, slipped for the eighth straight month as a result of the global semiconductor crunch. 

November production at SAIC-GM fell 16 percent to 132,135 units, according to SAIC, a Shanghai-listed company.

Behind a rebound of 129 percent in the first quarter compared with the same coronavirus-stricken period in 2020, output at the joint venture through November has dipped 5.4 percent to some 1.17 million.

Last month, wholesale volume at SAIC-GM also contracted for the eighth-straight month, dropping 17 percent to 137,026, according to SAIC.

Despite an 87-percent rebound in the first quarter, year-to-date wholesale volume at the partnership declined 8.1 percent to roughly 1.17 million.

GM’ retail sales in China declined 19 percent to some 623,000 in the third quarter, including retail volume at SAIC-GM-Wuling. It was the first quarterly sales decline GM has recorded in China this year.