Automotive News - 2008 Guide to China's Auto Market - (Page 24)

24 DOMESTIC AUTOMAKERS 2008 Guide to China’s Auto Market China FAW Group Corp. No. 821 Dongfeng St., Changchun Jilin Province 130011, P.R. China (86) 431-8765-5827, www.faw.com.cn Top executive: Zhu Yanfeng, general manager Staff China FAW Group Corp., China’s second-largest domestic automaker, wants to build momentum with its own brand in 2008. Sales of FAW’s Besturn brand, which means “best turn,” reached 23,279 in 2007 from 4,230 in 2006. Besturn competes with the Buick Regal and Ford Mondeo. Few domestic models are competing in the mid-sized sedan segment. Sales of the Red Flag brand, well known for transporting high government officials, slid 41.3 percent to 2,584 units. FAW faces a difficult challenge to attract mainstream customers to the historic brand. Red Flag cars mainly are used for government purposes. A new three-box sedan similar to the Volkswagen Jetta will debut by year end, and a bevy of new models including a small sedan and an SUV are being developed, say FAW sources. FAW is studying how to sell the new models under its two brands, Red Flag and Besturn. FAW plans to expand its product lineup from small cars to luxury cars on four platforms under development. The automaker said it will spend $1.83 billion to develop new vehicles through 2015, including cars and commercial vehicles. A staff of 1,600 engineers works in its r&d center in Changchun. FAW shares resources and technologies with its joint-venture partners, Toyota Motor Corp. and Volkswagen AG. It also makes Mazda cars under an agreement with the Japanese automaker. The Besturn is based on the Mazda6 Editors: Charles Child, Mary Raetz Correspondents: Gary Anglebrandt, Namrita Chow, Kevin Huang, Lan Lan, Alysha Webb, Yang Jian Production: Terry Driscoll, Larry Williams Keith E. Crain Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Peter Brown Associate Publisher and Editorial Director David Sedgwick Editor, Automotive News Editorial staff Charles Child E-mail: cchild@crain.com Phone: (313) 446-0365 Fax: (313) 446-0383 Larry Schlagheck Advertising Director lschlagheck@crain.com Phone: (313) 446-6790 FAW BESTURN Global JVs: Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co. – Tianjin – Toyota Vios, Corolla, New Corolla, Crown, Reiz (Page 17) Sichuan FAW Toyota Motor Co. – Chengdu, Sichuan Province; Changchun, Jilin Province – Toyota Land Cruiser, Prado, Prius (Page 17) FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Co. – Changchun, Jilin Province – Audi A4, A6; VW Jetta, Bora, Sagitar, Golf, Magotan, Caddy (Page 18) platform, and the Red Flag HQ3 is based on Toyota’s Majesta platform. Despite its efforts to develop new vehicles, FAW is widely regarded as a slow-moving state-owned automaker, particularly compared with such domestic rivals as Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. and Chery Automobile Co. But FAW’s joint ventures enjoyed a good year in 2007. FAWVolkswagen sales last year climbed 2007 35.9 percent to 469,169 units. The hot-selling VW Jetta posted sales of 201,131 units. FAW also has started producing the Jetta in its Chengdu plant, with current capacity of 50,000 units. Sales of FAW’s joint venture with Toyota, Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co., rose 29 percent to 268,648 units in 2007. The venture is expected to build its fourth assembly plant, in Changchun, with capacity estimated at 100,000 units per year. That will bring the venture’s total capacity to about 520,000 units a year. FAW says it will become the first Chinese automaker to operate a plant in Mexico. It set up a joint venture with a local partner to produce two FAW-badged small cars for Mexico and Central America by 2010. — Lan Lan 2006 autonews.com John FItzgerald Director of Business Planning and Online Commerce jfitzgerald@crain.com Phone: (313) 446-1679 SUBSCRIPTIONS subs@crain.com Phone: (888) 446-1422 (U.S. & Canada) (313) 446-1662 (all other locations) U.S. 1 year, $155; 2 years, $266, Canada $239 (U.S.); other countries, $395, Single copy sales, $5 per issue plus shipping CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. Keith E. Crain Chairman Rance Crain President M.P. Crain Secretary M.K. Crain Treasurer Domestic JV: FAW Car Co. No. 4888 Weishan Road, High Technology Development Zone, Changchun City, Jilin Province 130012, P.R. China (86) 431-8578-1576, www.fawcar.com.cn Top executive: Zhang Pijie, general manager Domestic JV: Tianjin FAW Xiali Automobile Co. Lilou Nan, Zhong Bei Xie Xiang, Xiqing District Tianjin Province 300380, P.R. China (86) 22-8791-5000, www.tjfaw.com.cn Top executive: Wang Gang, general manager Capacity 100,000 100,000 Production 82,665 57,804 Unit sales 81,947 56,613 Models produced: Red Flag, Mazda6, Besturn 2007 2006 Ownership: China FAW Group Corp. Public shares 64% 36% Robert C. Adams Group Vice President/ Technology, Manufacturing, Circulation Capacity 200,000 200,000 Production 183,651 202,000 Unit sales 180,280 197,000 Models produced: Charade, Vizi, Vela, Weizhi Ownership: China FAW Group Corp. Tianjin Automotive Industry Corp. Public shares 51% 34% 15% WIlliam A. Morrow Executive Vice President, Operations G.D. Crain Jr. Founder (1885-1973) Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. Chairman (1911-1996) 2008 GUIDE TO CHINA’S AUTO MARKET Automotive News • J.D. Power and Associates • Automotive Resources Asia http://www.faw.com.cn http://www.autonews.com http://www.fawcar.com.cn http://www.tjfaw.com.cn

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