From the New York Times (link)
The Chinese automaker that has joint ventures with General Motors and Volkswagen announced details Monday of plans to sell its own cars in China later this year and to export cars to Europe next year.
The plans highlight how Chinese companies, no longer satisfied with using cheap labor to manufacture car designs from the United States, Germany and Japan, are determined to turn into international competitors in their own right. To do that, they are relying on Western technology.
Thanks to its 50-50 joint ventures with G.M. and Volkswagen, the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation is China’s second-largest automaker. But Shanghai Automotive announced Monday that it had set up a wholly owned subsidiary, the SAIC Motor Corporation, that will not have a foreign partner and will invest $1.25 billion in building new research and development centers, a car assembly plant and an engine factory.
