Another legacy brand is about to leave the Chinese market. Former auto giant SAIC-GM, the Sino-American joint venture, is facing a shrinking market share and is preparing to make “strategic adjustments” to its three brands (Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac) in China to stop losses.
Chevrolet sales have declined for six consecutive years in China. In 2018, it sold over 640,000 cars in China, while in 2023, it sold only 168,588 units, according to data monitored by China EV DataTracker. But that was not a bottom – the 2024 hit Chevrolet hard as it had a record-breaking sales drop of 68.7% to 52,774 cars.
And that still might not be the bottom. In 2025 so far (January – April), Chevrolet sold 5,314 cars, down 75.9% from the same period last year. That is an average of 1,300 vehicles per month, with the Chevy Monza being responsible for 80% of sales. That is down 97.6% from the average of 54,300 vehicles monthly in 2018, CarNewsChina calculation shows.
According to a report from Chinese outlet Zaker, all Chevrolet projects that are not SORP (Start of Regular Production) have been delayed indefinitely (read = cancelled), including models internally codenamed C223, C1YC-2 and D2UC-2 ICE. All the products in mass production will soon reach EOP (End of Production), the report notes.
C223 was supposed to be an all-electric SUV (Trail EV), the C1YC-2 is a flagship SUV, and D2UC-2 ICE is a new Chevrolet TrailBlazer codename. All those China-adjusted models were ready to be released to the Chinese market by the end of 2023, however, due to Chevy’s problems in China, they were not launched and project eventually died.
In response to the recent report, SAIC-GM General Manager Lu Xiao stated that “rumours that the Chevrolet brand will withdraw from China are fake news” and promised that “we will not give up Chevrolet.”
However, 36kr quoted an insider close to SAIC-GM, who revealed that the subtext behind Lu Xiao’s “will not give up Chevrolet” (“不会放弃雪佛兰” in Chinese) is “will not give up Chevrolet’s existing users” (“不会放弃雪佛兰的现有用户” in Chinese).
“He just wanted to assure Chevrolet users that SAIC-GM will take over after-sales network and maintenance,” the insider said. “That’s all”.
Editor’s comment
Chevrolet was unable to adapt fast enough. Despite EV adoption in China reaching nearly 50% last year, Chevy was still relying on ICE vehicle sales. Only about 5% of its sales were EVs, as Chevy didn’t offer many models to Chinese customers, and those which they did, such as the Trailblazer PHEV, didn’t have much success. Chevrolet was also absent from the Shanghai Auto Show this year and faces the exit of many dealers and problematic after-sales services. As the Chinese EV price war doesn’t see its end, more legacy brands will have a hard time in China. We will keep an eye on it.
