Sunday, December 7, 2003

Sleeping giant shifts into high gear

China’s auto sector is moving from a fragmented collection of dinosaurs to a modern industry with the help and know-how of the world’s leading auto giants. Key milestones in China’s automobile industry:

1901 First automobiles arrive in China from Europe and U.S.

1913 Ford Motor Co. imports the Model T.

1920 China’s 2,000 miles of highway handle 7,000 cars and 600 trucks — mainly American imports. Henry Ford offers to train Chinese students at the automaker’s Rouge plant.

1923 100 Chinese students are studying and working in Detroit.

1929 General Motors Corp. establishes a sales outpost. Through the 1920s and 30s, GM sold 10,000 to 15,000 Buicks a year in China. Ford imports tractors built in Ireland.

1931Japan occupies Manchuria.

1936 Mercedes-Benz establishes plant in Shanghai to build buses and trucks

1937Japan invades China. The country has 25,000 miles of roads.

1945 Japanese forces in China surrender.

1949 Communists establish People’s Republic of China.

1950 China requests help from U.S.S.R. in planning an auto factory.

1951 First Automotive Works, “cradle of China’s auto industry,” established in Changchun to build 4-ton Soviet ZIS 150 model.

1956 FAW begins production.

1958 FAW produces Red Flag “Hongqi,” based on Daimler-Benz Model 220.

1964 China has 417 factories producing trucks, cars, motorcycles and auto parts.

1965 Brutal Cultural Revolution of extreme communism begins.

1968 Annual auto output recovers to pre-Communist Revolution levels of 25,100 units.

1969 Vehicle maker Second Automotive Works, now Dongfeng, founded.

1972 U.S. President Nixon visits China.

1976 Some 1,950 manufacturers, including more than 1,500 auto parts makers and automakers, operate in China. Chairman Mao dies.

1983 American Motors Corp. and Beijing Automobile Works establish the first auto-making joint venture — Beijing Jeep.

1984 Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Corp. founded.

1985 Deng Xiaoping, “the architect of modern China,” introduces limited capitalism. Beijing Jeep begins producing Jeep Cherokee.

1989 Government crushes pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square.

1993 Light vehicle sales surpass 1 million units.

1994 BMW starts exporting cars to China.

1995 Ford acquires 20 percent of Jiangling Motors Corp. Light vehicle sales reach 1.25 million.

1997 Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp. and GM agree to build a $1.5 billion plant to produce Buick models.

2000 Chinese light vehicle output reaches 1.79 million. Sales reach 1.86 million.

2002 China has 300-plus, mostly defunct, domestic vehicle producers.

2003 Automotive investment in China reaches $30 billion. Sales of vehicles, including heavy trucks, set to surpass Germany. China launches astronaut into space.

Sources: Shanghai Volkswagen, GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Detroit News research