GM, FAW Group Set up Light-truck Joint Venture

飞雪寒冰

General Motors and FAW Group, China's second-largest automaker, formed a joint venture to produce light commercial vehicles, GM said in an Aug. 30 statement.

The partners invested a combined 2 billion yuan for 50:50 stakes in FAW-GM Light Duty Commercial Vehicle Co., which is based in northeast Jilin province with registered capital of 1.2 billion yuan, GM said.

The venture will focus on the production and sale of light-duty trucks and vans, it said.

飞雪寒冰

The partnership "will address demand in China and other markets for high-quality, affordable products in one of the industry's most robust segments, while complementing the portfolio of products that GM and FAW currently offer," Nick Reilly, executive vice president of GM International, was quoted as saying.

Vehicle production will take place at facilities in Qujing, Yunnan province, owned by FAW affiliate Hongta Yunnan Automobile Manufacturing Co., and in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, at FAW's Harbin Light Vehicle Co.

GM has nine joint ventures and two wholly owned subsidiaries in China. It teamed up with China's largest automaker Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. Group, to form Shanghai General Motors Co. in 1997, and SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co. in 2002.

GM and its joint ventures sold about 1.1 million vehicles in China in 2008, up 6.1 percent year-on-year.

FAW Group has 20 wholly owned subsidiaries and holds stakes in 14 other companies in China. Its foreign partners include Germany's Volkswagen and Japan's Toyota and Mazda.

FAW sold 1.5 million vehicles and booked revenue of 218.4 billion yuan in 2008.