A worker checks the quality of a vehicle before rolling off the assembly line at the production workshop of SAIC General Motors Wuling in Qingdao, East China’s Shandong province, Jan. 28, 2023. (Photo credit should readCFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty ImagesGeneral Motors is losing ground in China, its top sales market for more than a decade and one of two main profit engines for the Detroit automaker.The company’s market share in the country, including its joint ventures, has plummeted from roughly 15% in 2015 to 9.8% last year — the first time it has dropped below 10% since 2004. Its earnings from the operations also have fallen by nearly 70% since peaking in 2014.The coronavirus pandemic, which originated in China, is partially to blame. However, the declines started years before the global health crisis and are growing increasingly more complex amid rising economic and political tensions between the U.S. and China.There’s also growing competition from government-backed domestic automakers fueled by nationalism and a generational shift in consumer perceptions regarding the automotive industry and electric vehicles.Take, for example, Will Sundin, a 34-year-old science teacher who told CNBC he never envisioned buying a Chinese-branded vehicle when he moved to the country in 2011. More …
