Shanghai Welcomes GM to Boost Investment, R&D in City

The city of Shanghai is rolling out the red carpet for automaker General Motors. The company's chairwoman, Mary Barra, met with Shanghai's Communist Party Secretary Chen Jining. The visit marks Barra's first since COVID-19 broke out 3 years ago. The city official voiced anticipation for GM to bring more high-end products and cutting-edge technology to China for showing at the sixth China International Import Expo later this year. Shanghai is also encouraging the company to boost investment and R&D in the city. The meeting comes as the American auto-maker grapples with a sales slump in China. That's over its slow pace in introducing new models of electric vehicles. The slowdown is a problem for GM with China home to the globe's largest auto market. Based on filings, the company's main joint venture with Chinese state-owned SAIC Motor Corp saw an 11-percent revenue drop as of April. GM revealed last year it would roll out 15 new EV's in China, and boost production capacity to more than 1 million units, by 2025.