Shanghai – With 2.2 million visitors and raft of awards for their pavilion, General Motors and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. have ended a six-month “Drive to 2030” at the World Expo 2010.

GM and SAIC assembled a time capsule featuring an SAIC-GM Pavilion brochure entitled “Freedom of Mobility Brings People Closer Together,” a collection of pavilion videos and a T-shirt emblazoned with best wishes from attendees. In line with the pavilion theme of “Drive to 2030,” the time capsule will be reopened in 20 years.

“Over the past six months at World Expo 2010 Shanghai, GM has defined for many the direction of the automotive industry,” said Kevin Wale, President and Managing Director of GM China. “We have shown the world the possibilities of a greener, safer, and more convenient society in which the automobile and General Motors will continue to play an important role.”

During Expo 2010, which began on May 1, SAIC and GM showcased their vision of sustainable urban mobility in the year 2030. Their vision introduced a future of driving free from petroleum, free from emissions, free from accidents, and free from congestion, and a future in which driving will be more fun and fashionable than ever before.

The partners also demonstrated some of their solutions for realizing the vision, including the YeZ and EN-V concepts. The vehicles highlighted a new automobile “DNA” founded on electrification, networking and autonomous driving.

The SAIC-GM Pavilion was among the most popular at Expo 2010, attracting an estimated 2.2 million visitors. It accommodated nearly 1,000 people on an hourly basis and hosted more than 4,500 showings of the main pavilion movie “2030, Xing!”

On Sept.29, the SAIC-GM Pavilion was named one of the Expo 2010 Pavilions with the Greatest Impact on the Future by the Expo Research Institute and Communications Department of East China Normal University and the Chinese Current Problem Study Center of Compilation and Translation Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

The SAIC-GM Pavilion also received six “Expo Oscars” at the Expo Oscar Awards Ceremony hosted by the Shanghai Morning Post. The pavilion was ranked first among corporate pavilions on Tencent’s Expo Award List. It was first in Utmost Practice Significance and Technology Content in an online voting campaign organized by Sohu.com. MSN.com ranked it third among Favorite Expo Pavilions, just behind the China Pavilion and Saudi Arabia Pavilion.

With the conclusion of Expo 2010, the pavilions’ two greatest attractions – the EN-V and YeZ concept vehicles – will continue to showcase GM and SAIC’s technology solutions for the future. The EN-V (Electric Networked-Vehicle) will go on a road show across China over the next year and join a series of global exhibitions in the United States to enable more people from around the world to experience the vehicle’s advanced technologies. YeZ, a zero-emission concept car, will be displayed in Shanghai at the Expo Museum, Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, and China Pavilion.

General Motors, one of the world’s largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 208,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in more than 120 countries. GM and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 31 countries, and sell and service these vehicles through the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. More information on the new General Motors can be found at www.gm.com.

Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC Group) is one of the three largest automotive companies in China. A Fortune 500 company, SAIC Group is China’s biggest listed automotive company and SAIC Motor’s shareholder. It is engaged in auto parts, automotive service and other investment businesses. In 2009, SAIC’s car sales reached 2.725 million units, ranking first among all automotive companies in China. From January to September 2010, SAIC sold more than 2.66 million cars, continuing its sales and market share leadership. During World Expo 2010 Shanghai, SAIC provided more than a thousand new energy vehicles including hybrid, electric and fuel cell vehicles to ensure Expo 2010 would offer an eco-friendly environment.

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