GM to form China venture, invest $293 million

[rickaren]

GM to form China venture, invest $293 million

Posted Monday, Aug 31, 2009, 11:56 am in Employee News

General Motors said on Sunday it has agreed to set up a light commercial vehicle production venture with major Chinese automaker FAW Group, with total investment of $293 million, Reuters reported.

The 50-50 joint venture, based in the northeast China city of Changchun in Jilin province, will make light-duty trucks and vans, GM said in a statement, the news service said.

“For us in China, this is an important complement to the rest of our portfolio,” Kevin Wale, president and managing director for GM’s China operations, told reporters in a conference call. “We are well-established in passenger vehicles and mini commercial vehicles, and we haven’t had a presence in the truck segment. Adding a truck portfolio rounds that out.”

The venture will use two existing FAW plants in Changchun and the city of Harbin, also in the northeast, with combined annual capacity of roughly 90,000 vehicles, Wale told reporters and Reuters. Vehicles made at the venture will carry the FAW brand and will focus on supplying the China market, but they could be exported under a GM brand through the Detroit automaker’s global network in the future, Wale said. (Reuters)