In 2022, NLPC — an investor in General Motors — sponsored a shareholder proposal seeking a report on the use of child labor in its supply chain.
Last year we followed with a proposal that requested a special “risk audit” related to the company’s business in China.
And earlier this year we called upon GM’s board of directors to revisit bonuses built into executive pay that incentivize the company to aggressively develop and produce electric vehicles, despite weak demand, economic unjustification, and logistical illogic.
Now the Wall Street Journal reports that GM and Chairwoman/CEO Mary Barra (pictured above) are reassessing the company’s shortcomings in the communist country:
General Motors, long a dominant player in China, was hoping to reinvigorate its faltering business in the world’s largest car market with an influx of new models over the past two years.
Among them was the electric Cadillac Lyriq, a flashy luxury car that executives hoped would appeal to Chinese consumers who were increasingly gravitating to plug-in cars.
“We think that’s going to be a really, really strong vehicle for us in China and, I think, a good test of things to come,” GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said in 2022.
Two years later, the Lyriq is barely a blip on GM’s sales charts in China, and the automaker’s market share in the country has shriveled. After years of consistent profits in China, GM swung to a loss in the first half of this year…
The market-share losses have prompted calls for GM to scale down its business there or even retreat from China altogether…
GM Chief Executive Mary Barra has said the company will stick it out there. The automaker in July disclosed plans to restructure the business, a process that often results in a reduction of factories, models and jobs. The company has shuffled its leadership in China as it hashed out a plan with its main joint-venture partner, state-owned SAIC Motors…
Back home in Michigan, the Journal reports that Republican candidates are campaigning against the Biden administration‘s EV failures (incentivized by the “Inflation Reduction Act”) that are costing autoworkers their jobs — and that the policy (and GM’s embrace of it) could cost Kamala Harris a victory in the state next month:
Republicans in the swing state of Michigan are campaigning on the issue, and Democrats are suddenly on the defensive.
The Trump campaign and others are blanketing Michigan with ads targeting the Administration’s EV policies. “Attention auto workers: Kamala Harris wants to end all gas powered cars,” warns a new Trump campaign ad. Her “push requiring electric-only is failing big. And Michigan autoworkers are paying the price. Massive layoffs already started. You could be next.”…
GM in December laid off 945 workers in Orion, Mich. The state had awarded the company $600 million to convert the plant to produce electric trucks, but GM has delayed its restart owing to flagging EV demand. “We are adjusting our spending plans to make sure we’re capital efficient and moving in lockstep with customers,” CEO Mary Barra said.
All these troubles might have been mitigated to one degree or another if GM and our fellow shareholders had supported the initiatives requested in our proposals over the last three years.