After a few years of intense work, SAIC Motor’s Lingang manufacturing site completed its engineering construction and went into operation recently, indicating the completion of SAIC’s initial layout for the production platform: the Lingang plant, the Yizheng plante and the Nanjing plant will become SAIC’s three major domestic bases of vehicle production with SAIC’s self-owned brand and, plus SAIC’s automotive technical center in Anting, its branch in Nanjing and SAIC’s overseas R&D center, a complete system for the manufacturing of vehicles with SAIC’s own brand is to be constituted

The ceremony for the completion of construction and inauguration of SAIC Motor’s new plant in Lingang was held on Sept. 19. Yang Xiong, Standing Vice Mayor of Shanghai, Wang Jian, Director of Shanghai Economic Committee , Hu Maoyuan, Board Chairman of SAIC Group, Dai Haibo, Secretary of the CPC Party Committee of Nanhui District, and Liu Jiaping, Board Chairman of Lingang Group, pressed the button to initiate the production line. Chen Hong, Vice Board Chairman of SAIC Group and President of SAIC Motor made a speech on the occasion. Shen Jianhuan, President of SAIC Group, and Zhou Langhui, Vice President of SAIC Motor attended the ceremony. Chen Zhixin, Executive Vice President of SAIC Motor, presided over the ceremony.

To accelerate the buildup of self-owned brand, establish scale economy and continuously meet the market demand and customer requirements, SAIC Motor chose to set up a production plant in the Lingang Development Zone of Pudong for the manufacturing of vehicles with high technology and SAIC’s self-owned brand. In April, 2006, SAIC Motor officially signed an agreement with Shanghai Lingang Economic Development (Group) Corporation, Ltd. to take over the plant that had been preliminarily constructed by SVW, and transform it into a production site of SAIC Motor Passenger Vehicle Co. for manufacturing new energy vehicles, FBU cars and the power train system, all with SAIC’s self-owned brand.

On the principle of “forward-looking planning, stepwise implementation and rolling development,” the Lingang production site of SAIC Motor was constructed in two phases. The project takes up an area of 1.2 million m2; he investment in Phase I construction is about RMB 2.9 billion, with a planned annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles. The up-to-date designing concept of lean production, quick response, flexible operation and modular assembling are all embodied in the project. In terms of production management, energy conservation and environmental protection, the project is up to the high standards of the world. The press shop, the body shop, the painting shop, the general assembly shop and the engine shop are all completely new ones, and in terms of manufacturing processes, IT and infrastructures, the equipment and facilities are of the first-rate technology in the world, making the plant a leading base in China for the production of passenger vehicles. The operation of SAIC Motor’s Lingang site has laid a solid foundation for SAIC Group to raise its core competitiveness and enhance its capability for transnational business operation.