Wuling to Introduce New Brand

　　The competition in China’s domestic mini-car market is entering a "duopoly" stage. Shanghai GM Wuling (Wuling) and Chang'an Automobile are leading the trend. Chang'an has begun production in the mini-car bases in Heilongjiang and Jiangxi with total capacity up to two million units. Wuling has also taken some measures. On June 3 the Qingdao base of Wuling announced expansion plan that by the year of 2012 the capacity will be expanded from 300,000 units to 510,000 units.

　　Such a plan echoes the expansion plan of Wuling's base located in the west side of Liuzhou. Currently Wuling has two major plants in the east and west side of Liuzhou with a planned capacity of 800,000 units. The western one can produce 500,000 units while the other one is responsible for 300,000 units. The expansion target will be achieved in 2012 and by that time Wuling's capacity will reach more than 1.3 million units.

　　Wuling's Qingdao branch was established in June 2005 and during the booming market in last year, the capacity underwent great test. With a planned capacity of 300,000 units, the branch finally produced 350,000 mini cars. In 2010, the production plan was set as 400,000 units, up 33% compared with the capacity.

　　Mei Shengjun, the General Manager of Wuling's Qingdao branch told the First Financial Daily that "the tripartite shareholders have invested more than one billion yuan in Qingdao branch annually for the past five years". On one hand, the huge investment enabled Wuling to build modern plants in the beach of Qingdao. Moreover, Wuling has gained powerful influence in one of the most sales regions-Shandong. The component supply system has also been driven up.

　　Through the expansion plan the Qingdao base of Wuling will have the capability of producing sedans, meaning that Wuling will be able to produce passenger cars at the same time in Liuzhou and Qingdao.

　　Earlier there have been some rumors in auto market that Wuling will launch a new brand. Yang Jie, the General Manager of Wuling Sales Company, told the First Financial Daily that Wuling would introduce a new model with new designs by the end of 2010. At the same time, a new dealership system will be built covering a wide range including different brands, dealership criterion, image design and etc.

　　Yang Jie said:" At present we have two systems-Wuling and Spark. The latter one is using the brand of Chevrolet. Currently, the amount of Spark's 4S dealerships is about 100. The amount will reach up to more than 300 if all the dealerships in other levels are taken into account. As to the new brand, the amount of dealerships will be higher than that of Spark."

　　In order to support the development of new brand, Wuling will introduce a new model every year starting from the end of 2010 in order to offer network support.

　　For domestic joint ventures, apart from Guangzhou Honda, no other automakers have introduced new brand belonging to the joint venture. As the concept has not been disclosed yet, Wuling's new brand may become a pioneer.

　　The new joint venture between SAIC and GM in India hopes to introduce Wuling models. On June 3, Yuan Zhijun pointed out that the project is advancing, saying "though SAIC suffered from setbacks in Ssangyong program, it finally has to accomplish something overseas.

　　Yuan Zhijun revealed that some issues including the exported models, technologies and personnel are going through demonstrations. As to the minivan market in India and Southeast Asia, Suzuki still holds a monopoly position. SAIC has to compete with the giant. (Translator: Qinghua/Hanxin)

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