Increased quantity and quality of work

GAC Motor, a Guangzhou-based carmaker focused on research and development of homegrown vehicles, sold more than 256,000 units of its Trumpchi model in the first nine months of this year, a massive 138-percent year-on-year increase, according to the company.

The company's new 1.5T version of GS4, which was launched in March this year, continued an upward trend in the markets, with a year-on-year increase of 81 percent to 34,000 units in sales in September.

"The substantial sales growth was based on GAC Motor's increased efforts in technological research, which give high priority to quality and design," said Yu Jun, general manager of GAC Motor.

In sharp contrast to the slow growth of the domestic vehicle market, GAC Motor has already realized its whole year sales target in the first nine month, with 256,000 units sold.

Vehicle sales in the Chinese market grew by a more modest 13.17 percent year-on-year to 19.36 million units from January to September, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

"After years of research and development, the market demand for high-end homegrown vehicles has surpassed our current production capacity," said Yu.

GAC Motor, which was established in 2008, has already begun construction of its assembly plant in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. It has also begun major renovations of its assembly facility in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province.

The company's Guangzhou facilities currently produce 400,000 vehicles annually, while its Xinjiang manufacturing line and Zhejiang project were designed to produce 100,000 and 200,000 vehicles annually, respectively.

"We are building a global R&D network and supply chain to maintain sustainable business growth," Yu said.

According to Yu, more medium and high-end varieties of vehicles will be launched in the years ahead, following the establishment of a standardized production system.

(China Daily 10/20/2016 page14)