At the ongoing 13th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition, the flourishing Chinese market has given a cardiac stimulant to the global giant auto makers who suffered greatly from sluggish markets in major developed countries. Meanwhile, China is also vigorously expanding overseas markets for home brands, kicking off a new round of competition in the auto industry.
Transnational auto giants are making strategic plan
"There will be some ten new models for three well-known brands of Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda during 2009 and 2010 in accordance to the market situation. Meanwhile, we also plan to introduce at least four new products each year to Chinese customers in the next ten years," noted Winfried Vahland, president and CEO of Volkswagen Group China (VGC) at a press conference recently.
China has replaced the US to become the world largest auto market since January this year. Currently, almost all the global major auto producers have set up factories in Shanghai, with Volkswagen and GE being the largest auto makers in China. In the first quarter this year, the sales volume of Volkswagen approached 1.39 million, possibly surpassing Toyota and making it a global giant with the largest auto production.
Toyota is also gradually expanding the Chinese market. The Japanese automakers this time have a strong lineup at the current exhibition in Shanghai.
"We have sold a total of 500,000 cars in 2007, and 600,000 in 2008, and hope to achieve the goal of 700,000 cars this year," said Nozaki Shuju, executive vice president of Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co.
Homemade cars take a firm stand in market for low-emission cars
Chery, which is leading the homemade car market in China, has ranked among the top ten most globally competitive Chinese companies capturing nine awards. Being the experiment base for new-energy vehicle technology (part of National 863 Program), Chery has made rapid progress in new fuel, hybrid power and electronic-propulsion technology over the past years. Meanwhile, the auto maker has also been selected as one of China's best new enterprises.
According to the sale records released by China Association of Automobile Manufactures, 160,600 homemade sedans have been sold, taking up 29 percent of nation's total sedan sales volume. In the first quarter this year, the sale volume of low-emission cars under 1.6 liters reached 141,140, a year-on-year increase of 21.93 percent. The top four homemade models topping the sales list are BYD F3, Chery QQ, Xiali, and Geely Free Cruiser.
"Global economic downturn brings an opportunity to China's homemade auto industry. Chery should further strengthen the position of low-emission cars in response to China's call for developing low-emission vehicles. So far, we have gained rich experiences in production, popularity, and customers' trust in the mini vehicle field," said Jin Yibo, an official with Chery Automobile Co., Ltd.
New technology helps Chinese vehicles go global
"Our tire blow-out monitoring technique and security control system are unique. Our vehicle has the advantage of low fuel consumption, which goes in line with the idea of energy-saving and environmental protection," said Wang Ziliang, vice president of Geely Holding Group.
Wang further notes that Geely pays more attention to quality and establishes a complete set of production systems instead of focusing on price wars. "We need to bring the idea of Geely to the world and make Geely vehicles available all over the world," Wang adds.
By People's Daily Online
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