15.Tianjin striving to become a manufacturing base for China's car industry
http://www.tj-summerdavos.cn 2014-09-08 19:52

A cradle of China's modern industries, Tianjin is now dedicated to establish a comprehensive system for car manufacturing, R&D and sales. By 2010, the municipality's car production capacity will reach 1.5 million, thereby becoming a key site for the manufacturing of cars in China.

Tianjin has a special place in the evolution of China's car industry. In particular, the development of Xiali, a brand indigenous to Tianjin, marked an important chapter in the history of cars in China. The company has manufactured 1.5 million cars since it first hit the market in 1986. It is estimated that today, one of every 11 privately owned cars in China is a Xiali.

Tianjin's car industry has insisted upon a principle that merges indigenous development with open competition. Xiali has experienced five major upgrades and hundreds of improvements. Its 3rd generation products are all developed indigenously, with wholly independent intellectual property rights. Xiali was entitled the China Famous Trademark in January 1999 by the State Administration for Industry & Commerce.

Tianjin Xiali Automobile Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of the Tianjin Automotive Industrial (Group) Co., Ltd., set up a joint venture with Japan's Toyota in 2000. The company, Tianjin Toyota Motor Co., Ltd., is Toyata's first car manufacturing base in China. In line with national strategic structural adjustments, Tianjin Automotive Industrial (Group) Co., Ltd., and China First Automobile Works jointly restructured Xiali in June 2002 and expanded the cooperation between Tianjin Automobile and Toyota. Today, Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co., Ltd., has three factories in Tianjin, with products ranging from economical vehicles to middle and higher-end sedans. The production of the Toyota Crown in Tianjin is particularly reflective of the fact that the Municipality is now capable of producing top-notch automobiles.

As its automobile industry grows, Tianjin's car parts industry has also significantly improved. Transnational enterprises, including Denso, Tokai Rika, Aisin, Fujitsu Ten, Stanley, Yazaki, Hynix, and Peace-Lon, have set up offices in Tianjin. Furthermore, Tianjin's level of R&D in the whole and spare parts of clean energy-powered vehicles leads the entire country. Tianjin Qingyuan Electric Vehicle Research Center, China's only research institute of its kind, is listed under the State's “863 Program”. Their technological specifications for XL electric vehicles have reached advanced global standards.

At present, Tianjin's automobile industry is undertaking a series of projects, including the manufacturing of Toyota RAV4s, upgrading of Xiali, and manufacturing of trucks for Shaanxi Automobile Group Co., Ltd. There are right now 195 auto manufacturing enterprises in Tianjin, with 9 whole vehicle makers, 7 face-lifting plants and 170 spare parts makers. The product portfolio of the Tianjin automobile industry ranges extensively from A-class to C-class vehicles, covering limousines, economic types, passenger vehicles to luxurious ones. Tianjin is building two car-manufacturing bases, each covering 20 square kilometers, in Xiqing District and the Tianjin Economic Technological Development Area. This will further bolster the product portfolio of Toyota, Xiali, and Irizar. It will also form the production of a full set of automobiles from limousines, economic types, passenger vehicles to luxurious cars. Five industrial chains, covering engines, chassis, bodywork, electrical appliances, and spare parts for general purposes, will be thereby developed. In turn, Tianjin will become a major car-manufacturing base in China.

Source:Enorth.com.cn

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