SAIC-GM-Wuling announced today that it will build a third manufacturing base in Chongqing Municipality to keep pace with the rising demand for its vehicles.
The joint venture between GM China, SAIC and Wuling Motors will begin construction of its new facility early next year, pending relevant government approvals. The RMB 6.6 billion first phase is scheduled to open in 2015. The facility will have an annual production capacity of 400,000 vehicles and engines. It will adopt GM’s global manufacturing processes and standards. SGMW will discuss which models will be built closer to the start of production.
SGMW currently operates manufacturing bases in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Qingdao, Shandong. The production base in Chongqing will give SGMW a strategic position in southern, northern and Midwestern China. It will enable SGMW to reach its production target of 2 million vehicles per year by the end of 2015.
SGMW has been China’s leading mini-commercial vehicle producer since 2006. In 2009, it became the first vehicle manufacturer in China to sell 1 million vehicles in a calendar year. SGMW had year-to-date sales of 1,311,489 units in the domestic market with a 47.5 percent of China’s commercial mini-commercial vehicle segment. It is on track to top last year’s record domestic sales of 1,285,820 vehicles.
Chongqing Municipality, formerly part of Sichuan province, is one of China’s largest cities and an industrial center in Midwestern China. It has well-established infrastructure, a favorable investment environment and a developed automotive components industry.
