CHINA Overview of GM China and its 10 Joint Ventures G M China is a wholly-owned venture of General Motors, which is headquartered in Shanghai. It has 26 plants across China em-ploying more than 58,000 employees. These 26 plants are com-prised of 17 vehicle assembly plants, eight powertrain plants, and one component plant. GM China has 10 joint ventures (JVs), for the complete car manufacturing and component and parts manufactur-ing in China. SAIC-GM, which used to be named Shanghai GM, is a Chinese state-owned automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Shanghai operating as a joint venture with General Motors. The company had sales of 1.9 million vehicles in 2016. Another joint venture is SGMW, which is the acronym for SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile. SGMW is a joint venture between SAIC Mo-tor, General Motors, and Guangxi Automotive Group, which manu-factures commercial and consumer vehicles sold in China under the Wuling and Baojun brands. In addition, GM China also has technology centers and commer-cial vehicle centers in China. In particular, GM has two R&D facil-ities in China. “GM China Advanced Technical Centers, which is called ATC, is the most comprehensive and advanced automobile development center in China,” said Brian Luo, marketing support manager for GM’s VSSM China, based in Shanghai. “ATC includes research and development, advanced design, vehicle engineering, engineering, and the OnStar laboratories.” The irst phase of the ATC facility was completed in September 2011. The second phase opened in November 2012. “As a member of GM’s global engineering and design net-work, it is developing solutions for GM on a domestic and glob-al basis,” said Luo. GM China also operates the Guangde proving ground, which is its biggest facility in China. It includes more than 60 kilometers (37 miles) of test track and support facilities that enable it to carry out testing involving 67 different driving conditions in China. GM China had vehicle sales of 3.8 million units in 2016, which represents almost 40% of GM’s global sales. GM China is a wholly-owned venture of General Motors, which is headquar-tered in Shanghai. It has 26 plants and more than 58,000 employees working for it in China. GM China has 10 joint ven-tures (JVs) for the complete auto manu-facturing and component and parts man-ufacturing in China. One joint venture is SAIC-GM, which is a JV between GM and SAIC Motor that manufactures and sells Chevrolet, Buick, and Cadillac models in mainland China. Another joint venture is SGMW, which is the acronym for SAIC-GM-Wuling Au-tomobile, which manufactures commer-cial and consumer vehicles sold in China under the Wuling and Baojun brands. SOURCE: COURTESY OF GM In 2012, General Motors, SAIC, Shanghai GM, and the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC) opened Chi-na’s largest proving ground, capable of conducting 67 driv-ing conditions over 60 kilometers (37 miles) of test roads. To simulate different driving conditions in China, the proving ground contains eight speciic test areas. The GM China Advanced Technical Center, called ATC, is one of the most comprehensive and advanced automobile devel-opment center in China. GM China already has made signii-cant breakthroughs in the development of lightweight mate-rials, such as a magnesium alloy to improve the fuel economy of its vehicles. Q3 2017 I AUTOMOTIVE FLEET 7
Automotive Fleet Sep 2017: 7
