"GM seeks at least 30 pct market share-report"
CHICAGO, Sept 22 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp., the
world's largest vehicle maker, is seeking to capture more than 30
percent of the U.S. car and truck market and is willing to offer
incentives to reach that goal, according to a report in USA
Today.
"Thirty percent market share is something we don't want to
see. We want to be north," USA Today said GM chief executive
officer Jack Smith told the newspaper's reporters and editors.
At the end of 1997, GM had a 31.1 percent share of the U.S.
car and truck market. Through August, GM's share stood at 28.9
percent reflecting a 54-day strike in June and July which shut
almost all of the company's North American assembly plants, the
report said.
"Basically, you'd like not to be in the rebate game," he
said. Asked about limits on incentives to spur sales, he said,
"We haven't thought in those terms."
Smith also disclosed that GM is considering closing one or
two U.S. auto assembly plants and replacing them with three
smaller, more efficient U.S. factories that would rely heavily on
modular assemblies brought in by suppliers, instead of individual
parts assembled at the factory by GM workers.
That could happen in five years--how long it will take
attrition to shrink GM's work force to competitive levels,
Smith said.
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