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Strategies & Market Trends : China Warehouse- More Than Crockery -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (192)	8/8/2003 1:09:01 AM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6370

Auto suppliers weigh how to gain access to China By THOMAS CONTENT tcontent@journalsentinel.com Last Updated: Aug. 7, 2003 Traverse City, Mich. - Automotive suppliers are having a tough time assessing how the rapid rise of vehicle sales and production in China will affect their businesses, industry forecasters said Thursday. Vehicle sales in China rose by more than 40% last year, and that growth rate has been matched so far this year, with China on track to become the world's second-ranked country by sales within a decade, analysts said at the industry's summer conference. Michael Robinet, vice president of global forecast services at the consulting firm CSM Worldwide, told suppliers and industry executives that if he had $10 to spend on the auto industry anywhere in the world he would spend at least $7 of that in China. Several automakers, including General Motors, Toyota and Honda, have announced major investments in China. Though much of that expansion is designed to serve a growing market for new cars within China and Southeast Asia, the industry may need to consider the possibility of cars being manufactured in China and exported to other markets, such as the United States or western Europe, Robinet said. That poses a concern for suppliers as they assess whether to keep manufacturing parts in the United States, where costs are higher, or fire American workers and move production to lower-cost countries. But G. Mustafa Mohatarem, chief economist at General Motors Corp., said the industry's expansion in the coming years will be focused exclusively on meeting demand in China. jsonline.com