Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

GM opens international HQ in Singapore

SINGAPORE — American automobile giant General Motors (GM) yesterday officially opened the headquarters of its international operations here, as it seeks to turn around a struggling business in South-east Asia amid challenges from the recent coup in Thailand and currency fluctuations.

SINGAPORE — American automobile giant General Motors (GM) yesterday officially opened the headquarters of its international operations here, as it seeks to turn around a struggling business in South-east Asia amid challenges from the recent coup in Thailand and currency fluctuations.

The new international headquarters, previously based in Shanghai, will support six key markets — South-east Asia, Australia, India, the Middle East, South Korea and Africa.

The Singapore headquarters has approximately 200 employees, including 100 new local hires, mainly in the areas of finance, IT and advertising, among others.

“Our businesses in most of GMI (GM International) are actually not profitable, and in the short term, the major objective is to turn this business around, to return it to profitability,” said GM International president Stefan Jacoby yesterday.

Part of the reason for shifting the headquarters to Singapore was to explore long-term growth opportunities in emerging markets, said GM president Dan Ammann.

“It is to make sure that we capture the long-term opportunity ... To bring a very specific management focus to some of the near-term challenges in a number of markets around the region. Having the right leadership in place, the right local team here, we want to bring a very specific focus to the long-term growth opportunity,” said Mr Ammann.

GM announced last year it was moving its international headquarters to Singapore from Shanghai, after splitting its China operations from the international unit in a bid to focus more on China, the world’s largest automotive market.

The move also comes at a time when the company is struggling to be profitable in the ASEAN region.

Mr Jacoby said some reasons for this include the political unrest in Thailand and the company’s dependency on currency fluctuations. He said the company’s priority now is to return the business to profitability.

For that to happen will depend partly on how quickly the Thailand market recovers, said Mr Jacoby, adding that the company will also need to change its business model and become more independent of currency fluctuations.

Meanwhile, GM also plans to introduce 40 new models across the region by the end of next year, including “mid-sized improvements” and trucks, he said. Currently, the company has no plans to expand its facilities in the ASEAN region and will utilise existing resources, he said.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.