|
Economic news
Wake-Up Call For Autos
China's auto industry officials are calling for the establishment of more independent Chinese auto-design companies and improvements in product development capacity to reduce the country's reliance on imported technology.
Led by Volkswagen AG, the Chinese sedan market is dominated by foreign-developed models, most of them no longer popular overseas.
"Partnership with foreign automakers has helped improve the manufacturing level of the domestic auto industry, but limited our self-development capacity," said Lei Yucheng, president of Shanghai TJ Innova Engineering & Technology Co. Ltd., one of China's few independent auto-design firms.
Despite a 50 percent ceiling set by the central government for overseas investment in Sino-foreign auto ventures, major Chinese automakers are still relying on the models introduced to the country by their foreign partners.
"Lack of talented personnel and expertise is a major stumbling block for Chinese auto-design com-panies," said Lei. "The government should support the development of such firms."
In China, Red Flag of First Automotive Works, one of the country's top three automakers, is known as the first Chinese-designed sedan. Introduced in the late 1950s, the model, whose body was hand-made, marked the beginning of the country's sedan manufacturing industry.
However, Red Flag and other homegrown models, such as Geely of privately owned China Geely Group, account for only about 5 percent of the domestic market.
Last year, First Automotive Works upgraded its Red Flag, but industry sources said the technology of its new version is based on that of Ford Lincoln.
Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. is another domestic automaker that uses foreign technology to develop a Chinese model.
It has hired an Italian firm to design and develop its new model particularly for the Chinese market. Production is scheduled to begin this year.
Foreign experts agreed that the Chinese automakers should be more self-reliant. "The easiest way is to copy, but the best way is to create," John Wormald, an expert with Autopolis, the United Kingdom-based auto industry research agency, said at a recent seminar in Shanghai.
"At the first stage, you have no choice, but each country needs a model with its own characters," noted Ken Greenley, a researcher with the United Kingdom's Automotive Design Consultancy.
However, to develop a car with Chinese characters requires support from domestic auto parts suppliers.
"Local auto-design firms prefer to use as many Chinese-made components as possible. This will stimulate the production of Chinese parts suppliers," said Lei. "But no matter how good the design is, advanced auto manufacturing technology is still necessary."
(Eastday)
|
|
