This year Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC) stepped out of the shadows of the foreign partners in which it has lived for the past two decades.
In April, the company revealed ambitious plans to spend more than US$1 billion over four years to build its own cars, with output of 200,000 a year by 2010, of which it will export 45,000. To raise as much as US$2 billion, it wants a listing in Hong Kong, this year if possible.
The announcement was a milestone in the history of the motor vehicle industry, the first time that a leading state-owned manufacturer has declared its intention to become a significant producer of its own brands and challenge foreign makers in the world market.
'We want to become a force competitive with the world's giants,' said Wang Xiaogiu, general manager of SAIC Motor Manufacturing, set up to build the new models. 'Our goal is to develop a high-end, international brand.'
It plans to start making luxury cars this year, based on designs for the Rover 75 that it acquired from Britain's bankrupt MG Rover Group. Family and smaller cars come next.
This is a double challenge to Volkswagen and General Motors, SAIC's mainland partners. Both have announced sweeping job cuts and cost reductions at home and are counting on sales in China to compensate for those losses. They do not welcome SAIC competition.