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Kandy Wong

Guangzhou Automotive Industry Corp  expects to become the first  mainland car company  to produce its own brand of hybrid car, which it  aims to launch on the domestic market next year.
Company president Zhang Fangyou said on the sidelines of the Guangdong People's Congress yesterday the  carmaker was working with its joint-venture partners Toyota and Honda on  a self-branded  environmentally friendly car.
He did not disclose how much the company would invest or what the production capacity would be for the hybrid, which would be powered by  a battery and a petrol engine.
Huang Huahua,  the governor of  Guangdong province, said in a report yesterday that Guangzhou Automotive,  the country's sixth-largest carmaker,  would become the  car  industry leader in southern China by pushing the development of its own brand of vehicles in the Pearl River Delta.
The company said in November it invested 6.8 billion yuan to build a research and development centre in Panyu that  would  develop  Guangzhou Automotive's own-brand  cars.
Mr Zhang said earlier that the company  would first focus on the domestic market.
'Sales to overseas markets will be the second step after the company  achieves stable growth,' he  said.
This is the second time Guangzhou Automotive has co-operated with its joint-venture partners to build a car brand of its own.
The company said  in July it was working with Honda to make a Guangzhou brand car, though it provided no details. Together they invested two billion yuan in a research and development centre, and expected  to launch models in 2010.
Another carmaker, Chongqing-based Changan Automobile, said last month it  would display its own  hybrid car  during this year's Beijing Olympics, but it did not disclose its production capacity or sales target.
Analysts see the move as largely a marketing strategy because they do not believe Changan Automobile will be able to achieve large-scale production  fast enough.
Mainland carmakers are working on building green cars  to comply with Beijing's policy of reducing air pollution.
Vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission Zhang Guobao said  in September Beijing hoped to meet the international Euro IV emission standards as soon as it could.
The central government  had been pushing clean diesel engines with low sulphur and carbon monoxide emissions but  shifted its stance and  encouraged carmakers to  build other types of green cars, such as hybrids.
The country's largest carmaker, SAIC Motor Corp, which is likely to announce  a tripling of  earnings, has poured two billion yuan into building a research and development centre in Shanghai to make hybrid cars.
Other global carmakers, such as General Motors, Toyota and Honda, also plan to sell their own hybrid cars in China in the near future.  But mainland carmakers  are urging  Beijing to provide tax concessions  to offset the higher cost of the green cars.



Guangzhou Auto targets hybrid cars