SAIC and JVs' mega plans for Chinese market

Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, otherwise known as SAIC, has several joint ventures in China, most noticably the GM and VW joint ventures which have both been extremely profitable for the Shanghai based automotive producer.

SAIC's plans for 2009 and 2010 are going to see some interesting developments with the introductions of dozens of new cars for the Chinese marketplace other the next few months.

GM-SAIC [Shanghai GM] have plans for the following vehicles in China:

1. Chevrolet Orlando, expected to be put into production within 18 months to 2 years time.

2. Next generation Chevrolet Sail, built on GM's GammaII platform, expected to be priced from 50 to 70,000 rmb (yuan).

3. A stretched, or lengthened, Buick Excelle. Rumoured to be built on a new platform for the next generation model.

4. Buick HRV to be replaced with Opel Astra

SAIC-MG

SAIC's most recent acquisition, MG, and its  other own self developed brand, Roewe is expected to launch the following models this year:

1. Roewe 250 - their first mini car, could be using Fiat engines, or using the Fiat Punto as a benchmark. Nobody is quite sure about this one yet.

2. Roewe 350 - Based on the Roewe N1 concept car, has been spotted out testing in Australia. Expected to see production in Feb 2010.

3. Roewe 550 hatchback - plenty of photoshops of this one, but who knows what it will look like, probably like the MG6.

4. MG6 - The first new MG in nearly 5 years, something the majority of Europe has been waiting for!

SAIC-VW (Shanghai VW)

1. VW Tiguan - to be offered at the same time as the Audi Q5.

2. VW Livida 1.4TSI, expected to be a sporty little number once launched.

The biggest introduction of new cars appears to be from the Chevrolet brand, which looks to be getting a massive boost in the Chinese market place.