Yan Jianlai: Optimistic about the potential of the automotive industry in the inland regions of western China

The China-ASEAN Automobile Industry Summit was held on the 4th of the China-ASEAN Automobile Expo held in Liuzhou, Guangxi and more than 200 domestic and foreign government officials, industry leaders and well-known scholars attended the meeting. Jack, the chairman of the United States Jack Holdings Co., Ltd., who first entered China to invest in auto parts and components, said that a new wave of automobile economics in China will sweep across inland China.

This forum has a total of "China and European automotive industry status", "Liuzhou Automobile City in Guangxi - opportunities and cooperation" and "European automotive industry settled in Liuzhou - Innovation, localization opportunities and returns" three sections. For the third sector, Jack published "The International Automobile and Parts Company's Development Strategy in China and Suggestions for the Development of Motor City".

Jack said that China, as the world's largest car producer, has entered all major international automobile plants in China, and the next automobile economic wave will develop in the Chinese mainland.

Jack visited nine provinces in the Chinese mainland in the early 1990s. He found that these areas have the conditions for the investment and development of international auto companies. First of all, China’s economy is in a period of steady development, with a large market demand. National policies have established considerable support for automobile production bases and provide preferential policies. Second, China's inland production costs are low, transportation is convenient, and human resources are relatively abundant. In 1994 Jack invested in China to create an auto parts company.

After 20 years of development, this auto parts company named ASIMCO has grown into a global auto parts company. Jack said that thanks to the rapid development of the Chinese auto industry, ASIMCO Technologies has taken advantage of the Western Development Strategy and gradually established a company in the western part of China that is closer to the market and cooperates with local automakers with local brands.

Yan Jianlai, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Engineers, endorsed Jack's statement and said in his subsequent keynote speech that the Chinese auto industry is undergoing a second gradient transfer. Due to rising labor costs in the coastal areas and tilting of national support policies to inland areas, the Chinese automobile industry is shifting from the coastal areas to the west. Inland China will inevitably set off a new round of auto investment boom.

Xu Changming, director of the Information Resources Development Department of the State Information Center of China, said that the Chinese auto market will continue to grow at a rate of about 10% for 10 years, 1.5 times GDP. Due to the stamina of the western region, the pace of industrialization and urbanization in the economic development will be faster, and the auto market will continue to move westward and sinking. There is still much room for investment in the auto industry in the west.

As the industrial city of Southwest China, Liuzhou City, the automotive industry is the first pillar industry. It has SAIC, FAW, Dongfeng, and China National Heavy Duty Truck Group's four major auto group production bases. In the current slowdown in the growth of the auto industry, the production and sales of Liuzhou Automobile still maintain rapid growth. In 2013, it is estimated that the auto production will reach 2 million vehicles. At present, Liuzhou is committed to building the "Liuzhou Automobile City in Guangxi," the closest automotive industry base to ASEAN in China.

Jack believes that Liuzhou should work hard to increase awareness and upgrade and innovate automotive products. It must pay attention to the promotion of talents and soft power, and take advantage of the favorable development strategy of Western Development to gain greater room for development.