China Economic Review
Charting China’s changing economic terrain · Since 1990
Shanghai auto show goes global
October 27, 2009
The Shanghai auto expo is now being seen by China’s domestic automakers as a platform to compete with their foreign counterparts.Xu Guozhen, vice president of Ford Motor (China) Ltd., said global car makers are active in the show in an effort to expand their market share in the growing Chinese auto market, which has become the primary engine to pump energy into the gloomy global market.
Teaming up with its Chinese partner of Chang’an Motor, Ford is planning presents 37 car models.Geely, the largest independent Chinese automaker, is displaying 22 car models, and another home player, Chery, has 24 models.
Miao Yu, vice minister of Industry and Information Technology, said the Chinese government will allocate RMB10 billion ($1.46 billion) to boost technological innovation in the domestic automobile industry, which is part of a comprehensive plan to enlarge new-energy auto production.
CCTV.com states that according to the plan, China will have an annual production capacity of 500,000 new-energy vehicles by 2011, which means 5% of new vehicles should be powered by new energy.