Manufacturing

China's largest indigenous automaker Chery Auto plans to outsell its home-grown rival BYD Auto this year, the China Business News (CBN) reported today, citing an unnamed source.

Ma Deji, Chery's deputy general manager, said its company has set the 2010 sales target at 700,000 units. But a company insider told the CBN that Chery will not loose ground to the Shenzhen-based BYD Auto, which has planned to sell 800,000 units this year.

The Anhui-based automaker just inaugurated a new plant in Wuhu, Anhui province on Jan 16. With a 10-billion-yuan investment, the plant will finally add up Chery's annual vehicle production capacity to 1 million units after it goes into production in 2012.

Chery had already built a 4.7 billion yuan ($688.3 million) plant in Dalian, Liaoning province last year. The Dalian plant, with an annual production capacity of 200,000 vehicles, is set to go into operation in June 2011.

As of 2009, the automaker was able to produce 600,000 units of vehicles annually. It sold more than 500,000 cars that year, ranking the first among China's home grown automakers.

New-energy vehicle and battery manufacturer BYD Automobile Co said yesterday that it has won approval to produce the e6, its first pure electric car, in the country.

A BYD official said the e6 accelerated the auto maker's new-energy vehicle strategy and will help domestic car makers compete against international rivals.

China-based BYD, backed by billionaire Warren Buffet, will launch the plug-in e6 sedan in China in the first half of this year for about 300,000 yuan ($43,988), mainly supplying government, public services and taxi fleets. BYD also plans to sell the e6 in the United States at the end of this year with a price tag of about $40,000.

With government support, hybrid and electric vehicles are becoming an industry trend as consumers seek ways to reduce emissions to protect the environment. Demand for such vehicles has prompted car makers to increase investment and speed up engineering in the field.

Geely Plans 12 new models - while buying Volvo and rolling out electric vehicles

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd, which is close to finalizing a deal to buy Swedish luxury car brand Volvo from Ford Motor Co, plans to roll out a dozen new own-brand models this year.

Zhao Fuquan, vice-president of research and development at the privately owned carmaker, said the company will offer 12 all-new and upgraded products in 2010, including its first sports-utility vehicle (SUV) and first large-sized sedan.

The new models will have an engine capacity ranging from 1.0 to 2.8 liters, Zhao said.

Geely, with its headquarters in Hangzhou, capital city of coastal Zhejiang province, will also put its purely electric-powered and plug-in hybrid cars into small-volume commercial production this year, he added.

Liu Jinliang, the group's vice-president for sales and marketing, said Geely aims to sell 400,000 cars this year, up from 330,000 units in 2009. Its sales surged by 48 percent last year from 2008.

China is well on its way to becoming the high-speed railway capital of the world, with 33,000 km of these railways currently under construction and about 70 projects slated to launch this year.

By the end of 2012, China's high-speed railway is expected to account for half of the world's total length.

Currently, 2.1 trillion yuan ($300 billion) worth of rail construction projects are under way.

In the next three years, 26,000 km of new lines, including 9,200 km of high-speed lines, will be put into operation to ease the pressure on the country's overburdened rail network, said Liu Zhijun, Minister of Railways.

China's dominance in the high-speed railway market is remarkable, said Yang Hao, professor in railway transport with Beijing Jiaotong University.

"No matter the length of high-speed railways, or the operation speed of our high-speed trains, China now dwarfs other countries," Yang said.

Though many of the advanced technologies used in high-speed railways were imported from France, Japan and Germany, "China has learned them fast, and China also has its advantage in industrial integration", he said.

By 2013, 800 bullet trains will be churned out to zip through the cities at a speed of at least 250 km/h, the minister said. Also, a new-generation high-speed train, which insiders said is built to run up to 380 km/h on the future Beijing-Shanghai high-speed link, is also expected to roll off the production line and complete comprehensive tests this year, he said.

The country should also clinch more deals in the global railway market this year, the minister said yesterday.

This is the first time the goal is put into the minister's annual work report, which reviews achievements in the past year and sets new goals for next year.