- Chevrolet will cease sales in China.
- The cars it currently makes in China will be exported to global markets (not including the U.S.).
- SAIC-GM’s focus in China will shift toward Buick and Cadillac, as 30 new EV and PHEV models are planned for production by 2030.
It has been widely assumed that China’s brand apocalypse is inevitable, if not overdue. The country has dozens of homegrown brands. However, it also has a sizable number of Korean, Japanese, European, and American brands that once dominated China’s sales charts. As the story goes, Chinese cars have gotten significantly better, much to the chagrin (and profitability) of the non-Chinese brands that made lots of money and sold many cars in China.
Now, many of them are struggling and failing against the onslaught of China’s homegrown brands—which themselves are struggling to become profitable—and many foreign brands are dropping out of the market. Last summer, Mitsubishi announced it was leaving China. Then, VW’s budget brand, Skoda, exited earlier this year. Now, it looks like Chevrolet is the next to leave China. The brand has been on sale in China since 2005, a whopping 21 years, amassing over 7 million customers.
This isn’t entirely unsurprising news. In late May, rumors swirled in China that General Motors had planned to wind down the Chevrolet China brand. GM and Chevrolet China denied it at the time, insisting the brand had no intention of leaving China.
Yet, it’s not hard to see that Chevrolet China hasn’t done all that well recently. At its peak in 2014, Chevrolet sold 700,000 units per year under the moniker. According to data from CarNewsChina, the brand only sold a measly 9,000 units for all of 2025. Yikes.
2022 Chevrolet Menlo EV Mickey Kung Fu Edition
If you look at Chevrolet China’s website, though, the model lineup isn’t very compelling. About half of China’s new car sales are New Energy Vehicles (NEVs), meaning they’re EV or PHEV models. Most of Chevrolet China’s lineup is fully ICE-powered, and not very new. Its lone two NEV models are the PHEV version of the originally ICE-powered Chevrolet Equinox (which Chevrolet said we will never get in the U.S.), and the Chevrolet Menlo EV. The Menlo is an older car that hasn’t really been updated in any meaningful way since its introduction in 2020. I’ve ridden in the back of more than a few Menlos and their mechanical twin, the Buick Velite 6; they don’t feel all that great compared to the similarly priced Chinese competition.
Cars like the Chevrolet Equinox EV were rumored to launch, since they had been spotted in China’s MIIT homologation filing. However, the car never made it to market. Given how the mechanically related Buick Electra E4 and E5 didn’t do so hot, this may have been a shrewd choice.
Still, this doesn’t mean that GM is giving up on China. On the contrary, earlier this month it announced a 20-year extension of its joint venture with SAIC. It plans to focus heavily on Buick and Cadillac models, and it wants to introduce 30 new NEV models for China by 2030. Even Chevrolet China isn’t truly a lost cause; it may no longer sell models in China, but a spokesperson told National Business Daily in China that the models in production may still be exported to other markets like Latin America, the Middle East, and other parts of Asia. Don’t expect them in the U.S., though. For example, in Mexico, the Chevrolet Spark EV and Captiva EV are rebranded Baojun and Wuling models, respectively, which are joint venture brands made through SAIC-GM.
Photo by: Motor1.com
So while China’s car market is in the midst of a fierce price war that’s driving out many brands, don’t take this as the end of GM’s ambitions in the country. As the world’s largest car market, it’s just too important for the company to give up on it entirely. It’ll still sell cars there for a long time yet; just don’t expect them to come with Chevy badges.
