Posted on 04/10/2006 10:40:16 PM PDT by HAL9000
SHANGHAI (AP) - SAIC Motor Corp., a partner of both Volkswagen and General Motors in China, is gearing up to begin making its own brand of cars, aiming to begin exports to major markets including Europe by 2007.The company recently invested 3.68 billion yuan (US$460 million; euro377 million) in a new unit, SAIC Motor Manufacturing Co., to handle its own-brand production.
It aims for an annual capacity of 600,000 SAIC-brand vehicles, including both cars and commercial vehicles, by 2010, said Zhu Xiangjun, a SAIC spokeswoman.
Most of the cars now made by SAIC are produced in its joint ventures with U.S. giant GM and Germany's Volkswagen AG, and all those cars carry the foreign partners' brands.
State-owned SAIC outlined details of its business plans Monday, part of the Chinese government's long-term push, initiated more than 30 years ago, to develop a domestic auto brand able to compete in international markets.
SAIC plans to use technology purchased from the Britain's MG Rover Group Ltd. to manufacture most of the cars.
It owns the rights to two Rover models, the 25 and 75.
SAIC executives credit the company's 20-year partnership with VW, and its shorter alliance with GM, for helping it cultivate the managerial skills and talent it needs to compete.
But the company is drawing heavily upon Rover's manpower for design and development, having hired more than 150 engineers from the former MG Rover's research and development center.
Plans for SAIC's new brand name and logo have not yet been announced.
SAIC does not own the rights to the Rover brand name, which are still held by former MG Rover owner, Germany's BMW AG.
SAIC plans to release two of its own models later this year, one a full-size sedan with a V6 engine based on the Rover 75 and the other a smaller, family-oriented model, said David Lindley, general manager of SAIC Motor Overseas (Europe).
He did not disclose details of the brand name and pricing for those models, which are already at the late stages of development.
SAIC's ambitious plans call for it to launch more than 30 other models of passenger vehicles, including full-size, compact and small sedans, hybrid and recreational vehicles, in 2007-2010, SAIC Motor Manufacturing's general manager, Wang Xiaoqiu, said.
"Bulk exportation to mainstream overseas markets including Europe will be realized in 2007,'' the company said in a statement.
The vehicles will be priced between 65,000 yuan and 300,000 yuan (US$8,000-US$37,500; euro6,600-euro30,700), it said.
SAIC Motor Manufacturing plans to invest an additional 10 billion yuan (US$1.25 billion;euro1 billion) to ramp up capacity by 2010.
The company's emergence as a major passenger car maker in its own right comes amid a revival for the fast-growing industry, already the world's third largest.
Automakers saw sales in China soar by 75 percent year-on-year in 2003, but growth slowed to 15 percent in 2003 and about 10 percent in 2004. It rebounded to 27 percent for full-year 2005.
However, the newly revived demand coincides with a prolonged decline in profit margins due to price cuts and rising costs for materials.
That pinch has hurt automakers like VW, which is staging its own comeback in China after seeing its market share plummet from over 50 percent in the mid-1990s to about 17 percent now.
"The next couple years are going to be really challenging for all of us,'' Weiming Soh, VW Group China's executive vice president for sales and marketing, said Sunday in announcing a new mid-size model for the Chinese market, the Sagitar.
Soh said VW supported SAIC's independent push into the market, though he acknowledged it will further boost competition.
"We would consider that we are healthy competitors,'' Soh said. "We need competitors.''
Eeeeeeew! Chinese beetles!
When can we go down to Walmart and buy one?
Can't wait.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1483953.cms
China piggybacks on Bajaj again
NEW DELHI: Imitation, they say, is the sincerest form of flattery. But for India’s largest two- and three-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto, it’s more of a wake-up call — to protect a brand that’s been a household name in India for decades.
The Bajaj Auto brass has been jolted by a new threat — a lesser known Chinese rival making CNG three-wheelers in dragon land under the brand name ‘Bajaj’ . “It was actually making CNG three-wheelers and marketing them as Chinamade Bajaj autorickshaws,” said a source.
The Chinese copy — built by Gaongqing Union Auto Co — has nearly the same dimensions as the Indian original . But the Chinese have gone a step forward and are offering the product in custom-built options as well.
Though Bajaj Auto MD Rajeev Bajaj points out that efforts are on to track the copycat and raise intellectual property rights issues with the firm, industry insiders say it’s easier said than done.
“It’s a country that thrives on copycats, where even global brands like General Motors and Yamaha have not been able to stop sales of copies of their vehicles . It won’t be easy for Bajaj either,” said an industry analyst.
But Bajaj seems firm on taking up the matter through the right channels. “Such blatant brand infringements are illegal. We will ask the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and the commerce ministry to take up the matter with the Chinese government and the World Trade Organisation if necessary,” said a Bajaj Auto official.
Just Google images of the Rover 75 (really ugly from the front) http://images.google.com/images?q=rover.75&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&percentage_served=100&sa=N&tab=wi
and the Rover 25
http://images.google.com/images?svnum=30&hl=en&lr=&safe=active&c2coff=1&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=rover.25&btnG=Search
for what the new cars will look like.
They currently assemble cars designed by GM and VW.
Hee, hee, hee! With electronics by Lucas, "Prince of Darkness"!
I would rather drive a "Zaporozhets"
SAIC Motor Corp., a partner of both Volkswagen and General Motors in China, is gearing up to begin making its own brand of cars, aiming to begin exports to major markets including Europe by 2007.
Leveraging the bargaining power of its weak auto industry partners GM and VW, China is feeling confident enough with its acquired technology to cross the chasm. By selecting Europe as its entry point, China is acknowledging GM's willingness to transfer technology to SAIC and more directly pointing out VWs lackluster support.
State-owned SAIC outlined details of its business plans Monday, part of the Chinese government's long-term push, initiated more than 30 years ago, to develop a domestic auto brand able to compete in international markets.
As the great Deng Xiaoping was fond of saying, "It does not matter if the cat is white or black. As long as it catches mice."
Expats do live well.
SAIC executives credit the company's 20-year partnership with VW, and its shorter alliance with GM, for helping it cultivate the managerial skills and talent it needs to compete.
My bad.
He did not disclose details of the brand name and pricing for those models, which are already at the late stages of development.
Bet your a$$ GM and VW labor rates in China are much higher than what we are paying the folks we hired to build these babies with the promise of a better tomorrow.
"Bulk exportation to mainstream overseas markets including Europe will be realized in 2007,'' the company said in a statement.
We are going to bury you with access to sophisticed high value luxury by pricing to penetrate lower end market segments. ...and what are you self involved morons gonna do about it?
That pinch has hurt automakers like VW, which is staging its own comeback in China after seeing its market share plummet from over 50 percent in the mid-1990s to about 17 percent now.
No its not. China is staging an allowed market penetration based on government owned taxi sales; carcass is still heaving. ("I can't berieve they haven't reft yet")
"We would consider that we are healthy competitors," Soh said. "We need competitors."
Soh apparently did not graduate from Harvard... nor did he graduate from high school. Here he acknowledges his spirit is having a personal financial gain fueled out of body experiance. He's happy to stroke the head and neck of the predator who has just left VW's shoulder muscle to savor the entrails.
Not in the case of GM. Granted the base platform architecture comes from a donor vehicle, GM China has its own JV design capability which is getting reviews that imply GM China is producing original designs with global appeal.
http://www.buick.com.cn/c_model/lacrosse.aspx
Maybe we'll start getting some new transport technologies out of this after 100 years of copycat.
Competition is good for consumers and bad for deadwood unions.
BUMP
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