SHANGHAI, China, October 31, 2006 -- The Fourth Annual
China Automotive Industry Forum successfully concluded today at the CEIBS Shanghai campus. Established as one of the premier events to gain new insights into China's evolving automotive industry, this year's forum was attended by more than 250 government officials, business leaders and senior executives from the automotive industry, and attracted more that 50 members of the international media.
Opened with a warm welcome from the Executive President of CEIBS, Professor Pedro Nueno, this year's forum explored the question, "China's Automotive Industry: Feasible and Sustainable Development?" Automotive industry experts such as Mr. Chen Qingtai, research fellow of the Development Research Centre of the State Council of PRC, Dr. Sergio Marchionne, the President of ACEA, Mr. Li Shufu, Chairman of Geely Group, and others gathered together to give their own perspectives on many issues, including cooperation and consolidation, expansion of the automotive component industry, and the development of environmental regulations.
Speaking on the future of the structure of China's automotive industry Mr. Zhang Xiaoyu, Chairman of the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, disclosed that the production and sales of domestic automobiles in the first part of this year had increased by 28%, and it is hopeful that this year's production will reach 7 million. He indicated that, although the current Chinese automobile industry is already functioning well, it is still facing difficulties in certain areas. However, over the last 10 years China's automobile industry has become a key industry in the Chinese economy and labor has become a very important part of the world automobile industry.
The automotive component industry continues to grow and, as Mr. Shen Ningwu, Deputy Secretary General of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, pointed out, in 2005 the domestic automotive component industry realized a gross value of 383.8 billion Yuan, accounting for 35% of the automobile industry's total output. In addition, automotive component exports in the past five years have also grown rapidly, with the 2005 gross exports totaling 8.5 billion US dollars. Referring to the present development of the domestic automotive component industry, Mr. Shen said that while China has basically formed a complete system for the domestic automobile, it still lacks the core technology.
Regarding energy consumption and the environment, Dr. Joachim Leluschko, Head of the Business Unit High Performance Polymers of Degussa AG, stated that cars being produced today are mostly (50%) made of steel and iron. The additional use of polymers in the future has the potential to greatly reduce the weight of automobiles, thereby reducing the energy used.
CEIBS has successfully conducted the "China Automotive Industry Forum" for four consecutive years, attracting the most outstanding scholars, entrepreneurs and government officials. Professor Zhang Weijiong, Vice President & Co- Dean of CEIBS, stated: "We are delighted to bring together leading policy makers and stakeholders from government and industry for the forums, and we will address the country's other important growing industries in future". Based on the success of the annual Auto and Health Care Forums hosted by CEIBS in recent years, Dr. Snow Zhou, Director of Marketing and Communications at CEIBS, announced that CEIBS will host a " Financial Industry Forum" in the near future, utilizing their superior resources in economics and finance.
