General Motors Company (GM): Could It Fall to Third in the World?

In a sense, the two are aiming squarely at one another. And you can see it in their priorities: General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) is investing heavily to turn Cadillac into a global luxury brand, and is overhauling its global product development process to cut costs and improve economies of scale. Meanwhile, VW is making a big push to increase its presence in markets outside of Europe, particularly in the U.S., and is discounting heavily to gain market share in troubled Europe.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few years. VW is already at the top of its game, in a sense, while GM is still a work in progress. And complicating this race still further is Toyota, which has the sales crown now – and which is also looking to emulate VW’s product approach in pursuit of higher margins. Not to mention Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), which isn’t likely to win the overall sales crown – but which could complicate the race as it pushes to capture more market share in places like China.

One thing seems clear, though: As the fight for new-car buyers gets ever fiercer, consumers’ choices should only get better and better.

The article Could General Motors Fall to Third in the World? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by John Rosevear.

Motley Fool contributor John Rosevear owns shares of Ford and General Motors. Follow him on Twitter at @jrosevear. The Motley Fool recommends Ford and General Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of Ford.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.