GM "has retrenched in or left several other large markets. In 2017 it ended almost 90 years in Europe, having lost close to $20 billion there since 1999; last year it also left India, where its profit margins were low; it fled Russia in 2015 in response to political and economic instability. It's a far different story on the mainland. GM and its partners sold 4 million vehicles in China in 2017, about 1 million more than the automaker sold in the US. General Motors China Inc earned about $2 billion last year, about 18 percent of its parent's global profit.
"The brand markets itself under the tag line 'Your Reliable Partner 可靠的伙伴,' to underscore Baojun's proposition of offering reliable cars for a low price, says Matt Tsien, [GM executive vice president and] president of GM China [both titles since January 2014, Tsien is based in Shanghai]. 通用汽车全球执行副总裁兼通用汽车中国公司总裁钱惠康 The tiny Baojun 宝骏 310 hatchback sells for less than $6,000. The 560 full-size sport utility vehicle goes for about $11,000, and the 730, a seven-person van, tops out at $18,500. * * * The cars aren't stripped down, Tsien insists. They have air conditioning, power windows, and large touchscreens for infotainment systems. Still, they usually have manual transmissions and lack advanced features such as automatic emergency braking, lane departure warnings, heated steering wheels, and OnStar connectivity. Baojun has been around only since 2010.
"GM and its two joint-venture partners [a three-way joint venture with SAIC and Wuling Motors; the joint-venture is SAIC-GM-Wuling 上汽通用五菱, whose website is www.sgmw.com] created Baojun, which means 'treasured horse' in Chinese. Its focus: low-priced rides.
"Tsien says that despite its lower prices, Baojun is a solidly profitable business. That's because its plant is new and efficient and the wages are lower than on the coast, where GM builds its other brands. In Liuzhou, autoworkers make $5 to $7 an hour, compared with $10 an hour in Beijing or Shanghai, says Ron Harbour, a senior partner with consulting firm Oliver Wyman in Detroit.
Note:
(a)
(i) summary underneath the title in print: With models starting at $6,000, its Baojun brand targets buyers in China's less affluent interior
(ii) summary in table of contents: Baojun, GM's Chinese brand, is pedal-to-the-metal
(iii) Print and the online version are identical.
(b)
(i) The word down-market can be adjective or adverb, according to Cambridge online dictionary.
(ii) put the pedal to the metal: "[American] Sl[ang] to press a car's accelerator to the floor; to drive very fast"
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs, 2002 https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/the+pedal+to+the+metal
(c) Regarding quotation 1. Outside US and China, Latin America might be GM' largest market. Still "international" revenue pales with revenues from North America. See full press release: GM Reports Income of $1.1 Billion and EBIT-adjusted of $2.6 Billion. GM, Apr 26, 2018, at page 2 (table)
media.gm.com/content/dam/Media/gmcom/investor/2018/apr/general-Motors-2018-Q1-earnings.pdf
("SEGMENT RESULTS (EBIT-ADJUSTED FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS - $ B [for 1Q18])
North America 2.2[:] EBIT-adj. and margin of 8.0% reflect planned downtime in support of new full-size truck launches.
International 0.2")
(i) Here is the same that GM filed with SEC in Form 8-K as Exhibit 99.1 http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoe ... wPSZzdWJzaWQ9NTc%3D
(ii) EBIT stands for "earnings before interest and taxes."