{"id":51337,"date":"2012-07-02T10:14:40","date_gmt":"2012-07-02T14:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=51337"},"modified":"2012-07-02T10:14:40","modified_gmt":"2012-07-02T14:14:40","slug":"chinas-largest-automaker-opens-detroit-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2012\/07\/chinas-largest-automaker-opens-detroit-office\/","title":{"rendered":"China\u2019s Largest Automaker Opens Detroit Office"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chinese automaker SAIC opens a new outpost in the Detroit suburbs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

China’s largest automaker has opened a new outpost in the Detroit suburbs to build closer ties with one of its principal partners, General Motors \u00a0\u2013 as well as some of the other North American automakers and suppliers.<\/p>\n

Shanghai Automotive Industries Corporation USA Inc. expects to have 100 employees in its new operations center in Birmingham, Michigan, one of Detroit’s principal suburbs.\u00a0 What that means in the long-term, especially with the Chinese expected to eventually target the American market, remains an unanswered question.<\/p>\n

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Your News Source!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cooperation between U.S. and Chinese automotive companies is increasingly important in the new global automotive marketplace, SAIC Motor Chairman Maoyuan Hu said in a statement Friday.<\/p>\n

Maoyuan said the opening of the new North American Operations Center in Birmingham marks an important step in creating a stronger ties between the US and Chinese automotive industries. With the increasing importance of cooperation between the major global automotive markets, this move by SAIC to strengthen its US presence is significant, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear to see SAIC\u2019s determination to deeply cooperate with US businesses and SAIC will continue to promote the development of exchanges with partners in the US,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe SAIC USA will enhance the operation of localization in the recruitment of professional, technical and management personnel and actively expand economic and trade activities,\u201d Maoyuan said.<\/p>\n

SAIC USA’s decision to expand its Operation Center in Michigan was based on a number of critical factors, including access to a highly trained work force, proximity to key global automotive partners – especially General Motors, proximity to world-class automotive parts suppliers and the favorable business environment in Michigan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe SAIC USA will continue to work as a bridge and link between SAIC Motor and the US auto industry. Further, we expect SAIC USA will continue healthy growth in this market and this will be a new chapter of mutually beneficial cooperation for China and the US, with the support of both countries,\u201d Maoyuan said.<\/p>\n

SAIC USA has a 30,000-square-foot facility on old Woodward in Birmingham that will eventually house nearly 100 people and will focus on three main areas of SAIC USA’s automotive business, including purchasing, logistics and technology and engineering.<\/p>\n

SAIC USA parent company, Shanghai, China-based SAIC Motor, is the largest automotive manufacturer in that booming country. It is also General Motors Co.\u2019s principal partner in China, involved in a variety of joint ventures, including the original Buick assembly plant in Shanghai.<\/p>\n

But the Chinese parent has ties to a variety of other makers, as well, and is continuing to expand its own automaking operations.\u00a0 Among its various operations are Shanghai GM, Shanghai VW, SAIC Motor Commercial Vehicle Company, SAIC-GM Wuling Automobile Co. and many others. In total SAIC Motor sold over 4 million vehicles in 2011 in the China market alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cMichigan is proud to be home to SAIC USA, the North American operations of SAIC Motor, and we are thrilled that the company is expanding its global presence here,\u201d Michigan Governor Rick Snyder sai, adding that, \u201cThe company’s commitment to Michigan cements our standing as the automotive capital of North America.\u201d<\/p>\n

SAIC is just the latest Chinese automaker to set up a major operation in the U.S., however, and rival Geely already has a facility in downtown Los Angeles that includes a showroom it will be able to use if that maker ever moves ahead with plans to start selling product in the States.<\/p>\n

Chinese makers have found it much more challenging than expected setting up distribution in the U.S., in part due to the slowdown in the market that resulted from the recent recession.\u00a0 But most analysts eventually expect a Chinese presence here.\u00a0 Whether SAIC would come to the U.S. with product of its own remains to be seen, though that\u2019s a possibility the maker isn\u2019t ready to discuss right now.<\/p>\n

Paul A. Eisenstein contributed to this report.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

China’s biggest automaker, Shanghai-based SAIC, has opened a new Detroit office miles from partner GM’s world HQ. Does this signify big new plans for the Asian maker? TheDetroitBureau.com has the story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20009,"featured_media":51352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51337"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20009"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51337"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=51337"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=51337"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=51337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}