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11 1.28 to 2.1.2019 manufacturers of cars and commercial vehicles is favorable and may be even better with the adjustments promised by the new economic team”. Sebbagh mentioned the GEM (Global Emerging Markets) platform as an example of new business, which General Motors is expected to use in Brazil this year: “There will be technology on-board the models, and we have an offer that meets these needs of the automaker in that sense. Electronic components have an interesting scope”. GM is an old Continental’s partner in the region. The company was one of the first to incorporate the industrial condominium that the automaker maintains in Gravataí, RS, where its models of greater volume are produced, the Chevrolet Onix and Prisma. Last year, Continental stopped operating at the place but it continues as a supplier. The executive said that the sector goes through transformations, and this was one of the factors that led the company serve the automaker in a new way. Continental will be the supplier of tires, refrigeration elements, air conditioning and powertrain in the GEM project. Continental also supplies the other automakers that operate in Brazil, and said that the last years have been marked by negotiations aimed at improving the chain’s operational efficiency. In the case of GM, which last week reported that new investments in the country involve (among other things) conversations with the main suppliers, there will be a meeting this week about a new platform, Sebbagh said. “Over the years the commercial relation has been marked by constant negotiations with all the customers. I don’t see at this moment what happens to GM as something similar, it will be different. For now, we will wait to see how the questions that the company will raise will be translated”.