The 11th AUTO Shanghai Successfully Draws to a Close

SHANGHAI, China, April 29 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Shanghai International Exhibition Co., Ltd. announced today that the 11th International Automobile & Manufacturing Technology Exhibition (AUTO Shanghai 2005) has successfully drawn to a close. The exhibition ran from April 22nd to 28th, 2005, and was held at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. Its features included its large size and the variety of brands and models that were present throughout the auto show.

A total of 1,036 exhibitors from 26 countries and regions actively participated in the show, with an exhibition area of 120,000 square meters, this was the largest event to date.

World famous auto companies made joint efforts under their management to showcase their latest products and all the world auto giants joined the show. Ford, Fort Group, Volkswagen Group, General Motors, Buick and BMW deemed Auto Shanghai 2005 as International A-level event. GM Chevrolet, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo debuted their new models. Domestic brands were another highlight of the show. Large automakers, such as FAW-VW, Shanghai VW and Chang'an Auto launched self-developed models, while Cherry, Chang'an, JAC, Changfeng and BDY Auto also showcased their own concept cars. The auto show exhibited 693 vehicles, of which 649 were cars and minibuses and 44 were buses and commercial vehicles. A total of 140 vehicles were directly imported from abroad.

The seven-day exhibition received a total of 390,000 visitors, the highest ever. On April 24 -- the first public day, the number of visitors totaled 86,000, hitting the highest daily record of Auto Shanghai. Responding to the peak visitor flow, the organizers launched various contingency plans and measures to ensure the smooth progress of the show. The whole show preceded orderly and was without incident.

The auto show also drew wide attention from world media. International mainstream media, such as the Associated Press, Agence France Press, Reuters, CNN, BBC, NHK, Deutsche Welle, France 2, Italy TV, Dow Jones, Forbes, Nikkei News, Bloomberg and Jiji Press all reported on the show. CCTV launched a series of reports through all its channels. Dragon TV, Beijing Jiaotong Radio, Shanghai Jiaotong Radio, and Internet portals like SINA, SOHU and NetEase all provided live reports. During the show, the news center received a total of 1,012 media (736 domestic and 276 foreign media) and 5,380 journalists from 31 countries and regions.

About Shanghai International Exhibition Co., Ltd. (SIEC)

Shanghai International Exhibition Co., Ltd. (SIEC) is jointly invested by Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co., Ltd. and the Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Shanghai. The SIEC was founded on July 1st, 1984 with the approval of the Ministry of Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation and the People's Government of Shanghai Municipality. The SIEC is a full member of Union des Foires Internationales (UFI). With the total exhibition space of 5.8 million square meters, the SIEC has held 500 international exhibitions of various themes and sizes. It also has successfully held a number of solo exhibitions at national level.

  For more information please contact:

   Mr. Kevin Zhou, Project Manager,
   Shanghai International Exhibition Co., Ltd.
   8F, OOCL Plaza, 841 Yan An Zhong Road, Shanghai 200040, China
   Tel:    +86-21-6279-2828 x248
   Fax:    +86-21-6545-5124
   Email:  zhoucy@siec-ccpit.com
   Web:    http://www.siec-ccpit.com/
   MSN:    zhoucy1981@hotmail.com