CHINA stands poised to become the car manufacturing hub of Asia, according to David Herman, chairman and managing director of Adam Opel. He said: ''By the end of the century China's automobile market could be between two and three million commercial and passenger vehicles . . . the possibilities are endless.'' Mr Herman was in Hong Kong as part of an Asian tour during which he spoke with the company's distributors and assembly partners about refining Opel's strategy for the region. ''Opel has been in the Asia-Pacific region for a long time, but only in a very small way,'' he said. ''But that situation is now changing.'' Mr Herman said that over the last two years Opel, which is part of the General Motors Group, has been busy establishing comprehensive sales networks throughout the region along with a strategic investment programme. ''Although Japan remains the biggest market in the region for Opel cars, our market share in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand is rising rapidly,'' he said. ''Opel is committed to expanding its international perspective on sales and assembly operations, and to identifying new markets. The Asia-Pacific region is the key to this.'' Opel has been especially successful in Japan, where 11,000 new cars were sold in the first nine months of the year, putting Opel in fourth place among car importers. In April, the company began marketing its Vectra and Omega models in 14 sales and service outlets throughout China. ''The key to our strategy in the region, however, is the building of plants to assemble Opel vehicles from component sets,'' he said. ''We have already established an assembly plant in Taiwan for the Opel Astra and are looking at opening similar plants in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and India over the next few years.'' The company is also looking at joint venture manufacturing opportunities in China, Mr Herman said. While the motor vehicle industry in Europe and the United States is in recession, in Asia it is booming, with combined car and truck sales of almost 11 million last year and an average annual growth rate of around five per cent. Mr Herman admitted that Opel was late in getting started in the region, ''but we are here and we intend to make our presence felt''. ''We have always relied on our success in Europe despite the recession. Because of this we had not given a great deal of thought to the bigger, global picture.'' Opel, along with Vauxhall, achieved a market share of 12.4 per cent in Western Europe during the first seven months of this year - the highest in its history, according to the company. ''With the yen-deutschemark exchange rate becoming more favourable and our success in Europe, it became obvious that we could no longer sit back and ignore the biggest growth market in the world today,'' Mr Herman said. In April, Opel awarded distribution rights in Hong Kong to EuroMotors, which also has exclusive distribution rights for Saab, also part of the General Motors Group, in Hong Kong, Macau and China. Between May and September, 195 Opel cars had already been sold in Hong Hong, compared to 100 during the whole of 1992. Mr Herman said: ''We expect to sell about 640 vehicles in Hong Kong this year and 1,200 next year. We believe Opel has a good chance of capturing at least three per cent of Hong Kong's fiercely competitive market and we are aiming at five per cent long term. ''In Japan, we are looking at becoming the number one import brand within the next few years. This year we expect to sell between 15,000 and 18,000 units and next year hope to increase this to 25,000.'' Last year Opel sold 1,300 cars in Japan and owes much of its success to its new distributor, Yanase.
