General Motors Company (GM): This Factory Won’t Cost Americans a Dime

GM launched its Cadillac XTS with a big event in China earlier this year. Sales so far have been promising. Photo credit: General Motors Company (NYSE:GM).

General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) said on Tuesday that it had won approval to build a big new factory in China – one that will build Cadillacs.

The new factory, one of several that General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) and its Chinese joint-venture partners plan to build in China in coming years, will be located near Shanghai, and will have the ability to build 150,000 vehicles a year.

The factory and its tooling is expected to cost $1.3 billion, part of the $11 billion that General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) has said it plans to invest in China between now and the end of 2016.

Those investments have drawn some criticism. For those concerned that General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) is spending too much of its money overseas, there are some big things you need to know about this new factory.

This factory won’t cost Americans a dime
This news comes as GM is taking some heat for its massive investments in China, heat that is motivated by partisan resentment lingering from GM’s taxpayer-funded 2009 bailout.

A lot of that resentment is understandable. But in this case, it’s important to make some things clear, starting with this: This factory won’t cost Americans a dime.

It’s not being paid for out of General Motors Company (NYSE:GM)’s U.S. earnings, and it’s definitely not being paid for out of money that was provided by the U.S. government to bail out GM in 2009.

As with all of GM’s Chinese investments, the new factory will be funded out of revenue from GM’s Chinese joint ventures. In this case, it’s Shanghai GM – a joint venture between GM and Chinese auto giant SAIC – that will be making the investment.

Shanghai GM has been a huge success for General Motors, accounting for about half of its sales in China – and sending hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of profits home to the U.S. every quarter. Profits from Shanghai GM and the General’s other joint ventures in China totaled $550 million in the first quarter of 2013.

GM’s profits in China would be even bigger, but the company and its partners are investing heavily in new factories and other infrastructure. Nearly all observers expect auto sales in China to grow significantly in coming years, and GM – which is the top-selling automaker in China right now – is determined to get as much of that business as it can.

Part of a big global push for the Cadillac brand
General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) didn’t say exactly what this new factory will build, but they did say that it would build Cadillacs. Right now, Cadillac has only a small presence in China, where Volkswagen‘s Audi brand is the undisputed luxury leader.

Audi had about 29% of the Chinese luxury-car market last year. Together with German archrivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz , German brands account for about three-quarters of China’s luxury-vehicle sales.