General Motors plans massive investment in China

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General Motors plans massive investment in China
通用汽车欲在华作市场老大



(中文大意)

　　面对繁荣的中国经济的通用汽车在周一称，公司计划在未来3年内追加30亿美元的投资，发起向竞争对手、一直垄断中国市场的大众汽车的挑战。

　　公司称、新增投资将使公司的产能翻两倍以上，同时引入新车型和中方合作伙伴上海汽车工业公司联手开辟汽车金融企业。公司负责中国业务的CEO和董事会主席Phil Murtaugh称，在中国的成功对通用是至关重要的。公司自1998年以来在华设合资企业已投资20亿美元，生产的品牌共计有别克、雪佛莱等其他型号。它已声称占有中国8%的市场份额。但通用在华市场份额仍低于大众汽车，后者于1984年进入中国，一度是当地主要的品牌，现占有38%的中国市场份额。

　　大众去年宣布要计划在华投资74亿美元。日本日产已在华投资20亿美元设立合资企业，而戴姆勒-克莱斯勒去年与中方合作伙伴签署了投资12亿美元的合作计划。同期，日本本田和法国的标致也宣布了非常耀眼的投资计划。


Signaling its confidence in the booming Chinese economy, General Motors (GM) said Monday that it plans to spend $3 billion in China over the next three years in a challenge to rival Volkswagen for dominance of the world's fastest-growing auto market.

GM, the world's biggest automaker, said it will build new plants to more than double its manufacturing capacity, introduce new vehicles and set up an auto financing venture with its Chinese partner, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.

\"Success in China is crucial to GM's global success,\" said Phil Murtaugh, chairman and chief executive of General Motors China Group.

GM has invested more than $2 billion since 1998 in joint ventures that now make domestic brands as well as Buick sedans, Chevrolet Blazer SUVs, minivans and other models. It claims about an 8% share of China's vehicle market.

GM joins other automakers pouring billions of dollars into Chinese ventures as they try to keep up with demand from newly affluent Chinese consumers: Total vehicle sales soared 75% last year.

\"The problem for foreign automakers is a lack of capacity. They're struggling to keep up with demand,\" says Yale Zheng, an auto industry analyst at CSM Asia Corp. \"For GM, it's a good plan.\"

GM still trails Volkswagen, which entered the China market in 1984 and is the country's leading foreign brand, with a 38% market share. Shanghai's taxi fleet is almost entirely Volkswagen Santana sedans, though Buicks are making up a growing share of vehicles on the city's jam-packed streets.

Last year, VW announced plans to invest $7.4 billion more in the Chinese market.

Japan's Nissan has a $2 billion Chinese joint venture, while DaimlerChrysler signed a $1.2 billion deal last year with a Chinese partner.

Honda of Japan and France's Peugeot have also announced high-profile investments.

For a giant like GM, the China investment is not huge. The company is spending $1.1 billion on its new factory in Delta Township, Mich. It spent $7.2 billion buying from minority suppliers in 2003, according to its Web site.

But it does represent a commitment to \"growing with the market,\" as Murtaugh put it.

China's economy is expected to grow at an annual rate of 9.8% in the first half this year and sales of autos with foreign brands have remained strong.

But the flood of investment by both global and local automakers has been raising worries that the market may soon face a glut of cars. Automakers are already contending with falling sticker prices as competition heats up between foreign manufacturers and the many small but ambitious Chinese competitors appealing to buyers with lower-priced models.

\"Overcapacity is not evenly distributed,\" said Zheng, of CSM Asia. \"It's the smaller, weaker producers that will suffer. GM and other big automakers don't have a problem with overcapacity.\"

Total sales of cars made in China reached nearly 2 million vehicles last year. But growth slowed to a 44.5% annual rate in the first quarter, with 567,000 vehicles sold.

GM's announcement Monday said the company will expand the number of vehicles it can build in China to 1.3 million by 2007, up from 530,000 this year.

The money for the $3 billion in new investment will come from GM's ventures in China. Last year, GM posted $437 million in net profits from its China operations.

GM says it plans to introduce nearly 20 new and upgraded products, including luxury vehicles, in the next three years, most made in China. Among those will be several Cadillac models, components of which will be imported from North America and assembled at Shanghai GM.

The company says it expects such initiatives to open up jobs and business opportunities in North America and China.

GM and Shanghai Automotive Industries also plan to build an advanced lab to test vehicle prototypes. The government recently announced a set of policies for the market that encourages more research and development by both foreign and domestic investors.

In the first quarter of this year, GM and its partners sold roughly 178,000 vehicles in mainland China, a 56% jump from the same period in 2003.

GM said Monday it plans to increase the capacity of its Buick joint venture in Shanghai to 450,000 units a year in 2005, from the current 200,000 units.

GM's mini-car and minivan joint venture with Shanghai Automotive and Wuling Automotive is expanding its manufacturing capacity to 336,000 units a year in 2006 from 200,000 units a year.