Despite a cooling of auto-market growth, Chinawatch 2005 continues unabated, with the soon-to-be monolith of the auto industry, Shanghai Auto announcing new and expanded joint ventures with GM and Volkswagen. Shanghai GM will expand production capacity by 160,000 cars, to 500,000 annually, and SAIC-VW will increase capacity by 150,000 units, to around 600,000. Plus, a new joint venture with VW will likely result in 300,000 engines produced per year. Sure, the days of 24% annual growth in the Chinese market may be over, but the US and Europe haven't seen even half that figure since the Chevy Biscayne was launched. The party, so to speak, is just getting started.

Shanghai Auto rolls out expansion plan with partners GM, Volkswagen [Channel News Asia]

Related:
Mercedes-Benz Sees Sales Volume Rise in China [internal]

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