General Motors Middle East and its dealer partners will invest as much as $750 million by 2015 to expand and upgrade their sales, service and spare parts network in Saudi Arabia, GM's biggest market in the Middle East, in a move that further strengthens its commitment to improving customer service in the Kingdom. In July this year, General Motors Middle East re-aligned its Chevrolet and GMC dealer network in Saudi Arabia in order to enhance the shopping, buying and ownership experience for all customers. As a result of the transition, General Motors Middle East in partnership with dealers Aljomaih Automotive Company (AAC) and Universal Motors Agencies (UMA), will expand their footprint throughout the Kingdom to more than 120 facilities by 2015 from 96 currently. “There can be no doubt that 2012 was a big year for General Motors in Saudi Arabia with the successful dealer network re-alignment,” said John Stadwick, President and Managing Director of General Motors Middle East. “This will allow us to expand and upgrade the network of customer sales and service facilities and ultimately further enhance customer service. This is in line with our philosophy at General Motors that the customer is at the heart of everything we do.” The investment during the next two years will be made on new land purchase and the building of sales, service and spare parts facilities. On Wednesday, AAC officially opened its new state-of-the-art K3 SSS facility in Jeddah, which will serve General Motors Chevrolet and GMC customers. The event was attended by John Stadwick. “The opening of this sales service and spare parts facility is a sign of the strong partnership between General Motors and Aljomaih – a partnership that stretches back 45 years to 1967,” said Stadwick. “Together we continue to expand our footprint here and offer customers what we regard as the best vehicles in the industry.” Earlier in December UMA opened its Riyadh South Ring Road sales, service and spare parts facility, the largest standalone Chevrolet and GMC facility in Saudi Arabia. General Motors' dealers in the Middle East reported total sales of 15,255 vehicles in November 2012, up 42 percent from the same period in 2011, as GM recorded its best ever November sales month in the region. Strongest growth for General Motors Middle East was from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) where sales for November this year jumped by 67 percent compared to the same period last year. The largest increase came from Saudi Arabia, where sales jumped by an impressive 104 percent. — SG
