SHANGHAI
International Automobile City, is building itself into a multi-functional automobile
hub with extra investment to bolster its research and development capacity and
auto trade. Zhou
Bin, planning department manager of Shanghai International Autocity Development
Co Ltd, said the AutoCity, located in Anting in west Shanghai's Jiading District,
would have an additional investment of not less than 38 billion yuan (US$4.75
billion) by 2010. Shanghai
had planned to spend 50 billion yuan between 2001 and 2010 to build the AutoCity
as an automobile center in China and Asia Pacific, which is expected to generate
300 billion yuan worth of automobile trade revenue annually. However, since the
groundbreaking ceremony in 2001, more than 38 billion yuan have already been invested.
The creation
of six functional districts including a Formula 1 Circuit, a large-scale automobile
manufacturing park, exhibition centers and trade zones have been completed during
the last five years. Over 184 industrial projects have been attracted and more
than 100 auto part makers had built their plants by 2004. The
spare parts assembly industrial zone, which hosts firms like Delphi and Visteon,
has also become the most important car components supplier center for foreign
automakers including DaimlerChrysler AG and General Motors Corp in China. Among
the new projects, SAIC, the nation's second biggest automaker, began construction
of its automobile research institute last Friday. The 1.8-billion-yuan project
is the main R&D platform to develop self-branded models and new fuel vehicles.
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