Russia is no place for novices. To get here, I've filled out myriad forms to obtain first an official business invitation to Russia and then an entry visa. I've surrendered my passport, answered personal questions about the nationalities and leanings of my parents and grandparents. I've flown 13 hours, filled out an immigration card on the plane, and now the customs officer is ordering me, via brusque Russian and exasperated gesticulation, to fill out yet another form. This one's awash in Cyrillic gibberish, there is no translation key to be found and no live human offering assistance, so I shake off a haze of screw-cap airline wine and play "word-search," matching headings on my Russian visa with those on this cryptic form. This technique works for about the top third of the form, after which I timidly approach the same androgynous defender of the formerly "evil" empire: "Is this enough to get me in?" Da.
The Business Invitation paperwork came from GM's Russian office. The General is tipping its hand, offering me a glimpse of its new plan to maintain or regain world domination. Much of the action will happen in places like Russia, China, and India. More than half of the 9.2 million GM vehicles sold last year found homes outside North America.
There's way more growth potential in countries with emerging economies like Russia's, where personal car ownership hasn't quite reached one in six people. In 2005, 1.26 million vehicles were built in Russia, making it the 13th-largest carmaking nation, and, at a growth rate of six percent per year, the Russian market is one of the fastest-growing. Russia is GM's top growth market, with sales expected to triple within the next few years. But it's not just a question of rolling in here and peddling cars to a vehicle-starved citizenry. Frankly, that part will be fairly easy.
Engineers needn't break much of a sweat designing a vehicle that's superior to those produced domestically, and GM's Daewoo subsidiary in Korea has plenty of affordable offerings ready to go. For higher-end customers, GM assembles knock-down kits of the Hummer H2 and H3, the Cadillac SRX and CTS, and the Chevy TrailBlazer in Russia, and a new plant will come online in late 2008 to assemble a new SUV and sedan. What needs some explaining is GM's plan to tap into Russian know-how to build better cars for the developed world. Russian automotive know-how? That rolls off the tongue about as naturally as Soviet cuisine and Siberian fashion.
...
>>next page