Automotive innovation in China: The view from General Motors

There's probably more innovation in going to market and in thinking about new business opportunities than there is in technical innovation. Technical innovation is lagging behind the rest of the world in maturity. What China does better than any place else in the world is to innovate by commercialization, as opposed to constant research and perfecting the theory, like the West. When the Chinese get an idea, they test it in the marketplace. The electric vehicle is a good example. The Chinese view is that it's not going to be perfect. They've got a few more series of improvements to go, and they'll work on them in parallel with finding out what the customer really likes and adapting to that. That's an innovative way of doing innovation, something that the rest of the world is struggling to understand. In its business in China, if General Motors doesn't innovate through or with commercialization, it's going to lag behind its competitors.