While giving the market overview, Stadwick told Arab News in an exclusive interview that GM Middle East sold 123,258 vehicles in 2010, which represented an increase of 5.5 percent over 2009.
GM Middle East sales in Saudi Arabia totaled 62,167 in 2010, a seven percent increase. GMC sales increased by 19 percent, while those of Cadillac soared by 52 percent. Sales of Chevrolet, however, remained flat.
The top five selling GM vehicles in Saudi Arabia in 2010 were: GMC Yukon, Chevrolet Tahoe, Chevrolet Aveo, GMC Yukon XL and Chevrolet Suburban.
The fastest selling GM vehicles in Saudi Arabia in 2010 (percentage sales increase in brackets) were:
Chevrolet Silverado (483 percent), GMC Sierra (84 percent), Cadillac SRX (141 percent), Corvette (75 percent), GMC Yukon XL (20 percent), Escalade (56 percent), Chevrolet Traverse (69 percent), GMC Yukon (14 percent), Cadillac CTS (53 percent), Chevrolet Suburban (65 percent) and Chevrolet Tahoe (42 percent).
Stadwick said, GM has a long and proud history in Saudi Arabia. On the Arabian Peninsula, the first automobile to arrive was a Buick, which was brought over from Cairo to Jeddah in 1907. GM appointed its first official dealership in Jeddah in the early 1940s to Mohamed Mahmoud Zahid and Brothers, which is today part of the Universal Motors Agency.
Today, Saudi Arabia is represented by four GM dealers: Aljomaih Automotive (Chevrolet, GMC & Cadillac), Alissa (Chevrolet & GMC), Balubaid (Chevrolet & GMC) and Universal Motor Agency (Chevrolet & GMC).
Stadwick, who is based in Dubai was on a short visit to the Kingdom, said: "We have three new launches planned for Saudi Arabia in 2011 - the Camaro Convertible, the all-new Chevrolet Aveo and the Chevrolet Cruze Hatchback."
Saudi Arabia is a key market for GM Middle East so I regularly visit the Kingdom to meet with our dealer partners and customers. These frequent visits allow me to understand all the dynamics of the market and ensure that GM Middle East is providing its dealer partners with the support they require, he added.
When asked about training programs in the Kingdom, Stadwick said, "At the moment we have five training institutes that support our dealers across the Middle East in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Dubai and Angat in the Philippines where we train graduate dealer technicians to work in the Middle East."
Shrugging off a question about Toyota's dominance in the region, Stadwick said: "We are focused on designing, building and selling the world's best vehicles complemented with a world-class shopping, buying and ownership experience - and not outselling any particular manufacturer."
He ruled out the establishment of a GM factory in the region and said: "To operate a plant, you typically need to build 50,000 to 60,000 units a year of one type of model to justify the investment."
He also acknowledged that India and China are two major auto markets. GM vehicle sales in China rose 28.8 percent to a record 2,351,610 units in 2010. GM became the first global automaker to sell more than two million vehicles in China in a single year. GM's share of the vehicle market was 12.8 percent in 2010. GM registered sales growth in India of 59 percent in 2010 selling a total of 110,804 vehicles. GM's share of the vehicle market was 3.7 percent in 2010.
While talking about GM's emergence from the brink of bankruptcy, Stadwick said GM took an important step on Nov. 18, 2010, when it participated in a public offering of its stock. The total offering size was $23.1 billion.
On corporate social responsibility (CSR) Stadwick said: "At GM Middle East, we have had two main CSR focuses: We launched the Chevrolet - Child Seats Save Lives initiative in October 2010 to educate and encourage parents to buckle their children into an appropriate child seat. We learned that the best time to change parental behavior was at the birth of their baby. If parents take home their baby from the hospital strapped into a child seat then they are likely to continue to strap their infant into an appropriate child seat throughout childhood. So we are donating 1,500 child seats, for infants aged 0-9 months, to hospitals across the UAE."
He added: "We also support the Al Noor Training Centre for Children with Special Needs in Dubai. In September, we donated a Chevrolet Express Passenger Van. We are also raising funds and support Al Noor by organizing work placements.”
Stadwick said: “We are enthusiastic about the prospects for the new GM. Our new vehicles continue to receive accolades from critics and customers. GM has excellent growth prospects around the globe and has a reduced risk profile, due to cost reductions and a stronger balance sheet."
