SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW), General Motors’ mini commercial vehicle joint venture with SAIC and Wuling Motors, announced today in Shanghai that it is launching the Baojun brand to build and sell passenger cars in China.
Baojun (the Chinese word for ‘treasured horse’) is being introduced to address the growing demand for affordable passenger cars in China, the automaker said. SGMW’s new passenger vehicle sales and distribution network will be built based on its existing network, incorporating new distributors and elements of the current structure. SGMW will begin building the new network following the official launch of Baojun.
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The vehicle has been developed with help of GM and SAIC’s Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC) joint venture in Shanghai.
“Baojun is being positioned as a reliable partner with an image that is confident, smart and dependable,” said Shen Yang, general manager of SAIC-GM-Wuling. “We aim to surpass customer expectations by creating a brand that combines world-class quality with low ownership costs.”
“The introduction of Baojun is part of GM’s multi-brand strategy in China,” added Kevin Wale, president and managing director of the GM China Group. “Baojun will complement our other brands sold in China including our fastest-growing mainstream nameplate, Chevrolet. It will enable us to better address the increasingly segmented Chinese vehicle market.”
According to Chen Hong, president of SAIC Motor, “Baojun will become another good example of successful partnership. By combining the best resources that SAIC, GM and SGMW have to offer, we will ensure an outstanding ownership experience for a greater number of consumers.”
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By GlobalDataSAIC-GM-Wuling, a joint venture between GM China, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation Group (SAIC) and Wuling Motors, was launched in 2002. It is based in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and manufactures a range of Wuling brand minitrucks and minivans as well as the Chevrolet Le Chi minicar.
In 2009, SAIC-GM-Wuling had domestic sales of 1,061,213 units, becoming the first automaker in China to sell over 1m vehicles in a single year. It has been the sales leader among Chinese minivehicle producers for four consecutive years.
