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AUTOMOTIVE NEWS: China goal: $100 billion in auto exports by 2010
Reuters / April 05, 2004

BEIJING -- China aims to export as much as $100 billion in cars and automobile components a year by 2010, more than 20 times last year's figure, state media said Monday.

"Our short-term goal is to increase automobile and component exports to $15 billion to $20 billion next year," the China Daily quoted Vice Minister of Commerce Wei Jianguo as saying.

China's automotive exports rose more than a third last year to $4.7 billion, with $400 million of that coming from sales of whole vehicles, the newspaper said.

By 2010, China would export $70 billion to $100 billion worth of cars and components, Wei said.

"China is likely to become the component supply center for international auto manufacturers in the future," Wei said.

The government would encourage the development of as many as 10 large-scale "automobile and component exporting bases" and allow mergers and acquisitions to create big multinational companies, Wei said without elaborating.

Foreign car and component companies have poured into China, tapping both a booming domestic market for autos as well as a vast pool of cheap labor that has helped companies cut manufacturing costs.

Delphi Corp. has invested about $500 million in more than a dozen factories in China that supply joint ventures for Volkswagen AG and General Motors.

Other foreign players include Delphi chief rival Visteon Corp, Honeywell International and Siemens AG, among others.

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Wonder where those $100 billion in auto exports will be going...