Western China hub draws leading intl projects

Chengdu is drawing high-tech projects from around the world as it becomes more integrated into the world economy.

As an economic center in western China, the city attracted a number of high-end manufacturing projects during the 16th Western China International Fair, a State-level international exposition held in the city earlier this month.

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group signed three investment agreements worth 35.5 billion yuan ($5.15 billion) with the city to strengthen cooperation in auto manufacturing.

Geely started its investment in Chengdu in 2007 by setting up a manufacturing base. Then in 2010, the company purchased Volvo, which is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, and later built Volvo's first manufacturing plant on the Chinese mainland in Chengdu.

One of the newly signed projects will be located in the Chengdu part of the Tianfu New Area, China's 11th national-level development area approved by the State Council in October 2014.

It will produce high-performance, purely electric vehicles under the Volvo brand, as well as locally-branded purely electric vehicles.

The second project will bring in Volvo's Scalable Product Architecture, a global full-size unibody automobile platform developed and produced by Volvo.

The third project will produce Geely's BMA vehicles, using the latest modular architecture system developed jointly with Volvo, as well as advanced hybrid and plug-in hybrid power systems.

The three projects will have an annual production capacity of 600,000 units.

Li Donghui, executive vice-president of Geely, said the three projects will further boost the development of Geely's Chengdu base. He expects the annual output value of the Chengdu base to reach 100 billion yuan after the projects are put into operation.

"Geely's success in Chengdu benefits from the high efficiency of the local government, the favorable environment for investment, as well as the development opportunities created in Chengdu as it is designated by the central government as a nationally central city," he said.

Li said Geely will build the Chengdu base into one of its most important strategic bases for new energy vehicles, serving the markets along the Belt and Road.

The Chengdu city government also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with a group of leading new energy carmakers to establish a new energy vehicle industry alliance.

The Chengdu New Energy Vehicle Industry Alliance aims to establish a cooperation platform for the whole industrial chain of Chengdu's new energy auto industry, helping to make the city an internationally competitive new energy vehicle manufacturing base.

The auto industry is a pillar of Chengdu's economy. The Longquanyi district, located in eastern Chengdu, has gathered automakers including Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile, FAW-Volkswagen and Geely, as well as many car component suppliers.

The city is expected to produce 1.1 million vehicles this year, and the local auto industry is expected to generate a total output value of 200 billion yuan.

During the fair, Germany-based Siemens AG signed an agreement worth one billion yuan with BOE Technology Group's Chengdu subsidiary to help the latter upgrade its production line.

According to the agreement, Siemens will transform BOE's production line in Chengdu according to the standards of the German Industry 4.0 strategy.

During the Western China International Fair in 2011, Siemens signed an investment agreement with the Chengdu Hi-tech Zone to establish the company's first modern digital factory in China.

In July, Siemens announced that it would increase its presence in Chengdu by setting up an independent legal company with registered capital of 330 million yuan.

"Choosing Chengdu was a wise decision," said Roland Busch, member of the managing board of Siemens during this year's Western China International Fair.

Chengdu will also upgrade its cooperation with Dell Inc to make its Chengdu manufacturing base into one of the company's most competitive R&D and manufacturing bases in the world, according to the city's investment promotion commission.

(China Daily USA 11/23/2016 page1)