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BAIC to make Saab design-based cars as soon as 2011 Posted by Ray Kopczynski [Email]  (#681) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Ray Kopczynski) on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:22:58
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BAIC to make Saab design-based cars as soon as 2011
5:37am EST
* BAIC to immediately start integrating Saab designs
* First vehicles using Saab IP available as soon as 2011
* Exploring other opportunities, including green vehicles
By Michael Wei and Doug Young
BEIJING, Dec 18 (Reuters) - BAIC said on Friday it will immediately start integrating its newly acquired technology from GM's Saab unit into its vehicles, with commercial production for Saab-based cars to begin as soon as 2011.
Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co, China's fifth-biggest automaker, recently acquired the rights to three vehicle platforms from Saab for an undisclosed sum.
The hastily arranged purchase was put together in just two weeks, after a larger deal unravelled that would have seen a group led by Swedish sportscar maker Koenigsegg buy all of Saab. BAIC had been a part of that group.
"We will start integrating right away," Gu Lei, president of BAIC's technology centre, told reporters at a news conference. He added that commercial production for vehicles with the newly acquired technology could start as soon as mid-2011.
BAIC President Wang Dazong said his company and Saab are also exploring other opportunities involving other technologies such as "new energy" vehicles.
"We need to have our own brand cars, and we need to grow our competency," he said. "We need to become a global company."
BAIC said on Monday it will buy the intellectual property of Saab and some equipment to make them for an undisclosed sum, as part of a push to develop its own-brand cars.
That sale came after another Chinese company, Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industry, bought GM's loss-making Hummer unit as the U.S. auto giant restructures.
Wang would not disclose the transaction amount for BAIC's purchase of the Saab designs. But a Swedish daily Dagens Industri put the number at 1.4 billion crowns ($197 million), citing a source who was involved in the process.
China surpassed the United States this year to become the world's largest auto market, as sales soared after Beijing rolled out a series of incentives designed to stimulate consumer spending during the global downturn.
The company's production partners in China include Daimler and Hyundai Motor, with most of their joint output for sale in the domestic market.
Wang said BAIC's exports are still relatively small, at about 50,000 vehicles this year. He added it is still too early to say if vehicles produced using the Saab designs could be used for export.
"We need time to develop more plans, integrating the technology into our vehicles," he said. "Those plans are in the works."
Most Chinese automakers are either churning out foreign brand cars in tie-ups with global heavyweights such as Volkswagen AG and Toyota Motor or focused on the lower end, making cars as cheap as 30,000 yuan ($4,394).
But as wealth grows in what has now become the world's biggest auto market, many Chinese carmakers are looking to boost their profile.
The Chinese government is envisioning that half of passenger cars sold in the country to be self-developed by 2015, according to a media report earlier this week, citing government guidelines, which are expected to be released in the first half of 2010.
State-run BAIC is joining Geely Automobile Group <0175.HK> and other fast-growing Chinese auto firms in chasing Western brands to take advantage of a steep global industry downturn.
BAIC has made clear it has no interest in acquiring Saab's production hub in Trollhattan. ($1=6.83 yuan) (Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
posted by 159.121.201...
_______________________________________ RayK
, Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:22:58 <-- Viewing This Message
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