Detroit Auto Maker to Begin to Sell Spark Mini-Car in 14 Chinese Cities

SHANGHAI, China December 1, 2003; The AP reported that General Motors Corp. plans to start selling the Chevrolet Spark, its first Chevy-branded passenger car built and sold in China, in 14 Chinese cities next week.

The mini-car is the debut product of GM's joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. and Wuling Automotive, a $99.6 million project built in Liuzhou, a city in the southwestern region of Guangxi.

GM holds a 34 percent stake in the year-old venture which, apart from the Spark, also assembles Wuling mini-trucks and minivans. It sold almost 143,000 vehicles in the first 10 months of this year.

GM recently announced it was expanding its lineup of passenger cars to include the Cadillac and more Chevys as it ramps up production to meet strong demand.

Auto sales in China are up by about 40 percent from last year when a record 1.2 million passenger vehicles were sold here. GM ventures in China sold 264,371 of them.

Sales of the Spark in China will begin next Monday in select Chinese cities. The manual transmission model will be priced at 61,800 yuan ($7,445) and the automatic at 72,800 yuan ($8,770), GM said Monday in a statement.

The Spark is based on a GM mini-car called the Matiz, produced by a South Korean unit of the U.S. company, GM Daewoo.

The pricing of the Spark has been a sensitive issue as a vehicle very similar to it, the QQ, went on sale in China months ago. The car, produced by Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp. and Chery Automobile Co., has been selling for as little as 50,000 yuan ($6,024).

GM, which has a huge joint venture in Shanghai with Shanghai Automotive that makes Buicks and other passenger cars, has said it is investigating.

SAIC refuses comment on allegations that the QQ may involve violation of copyrights. Its current stake in the joint venture with Chery Automobile is unclear.