Beijing Automotive to roll out own brand upscale car this year

Major Chinese state auto group Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co (Baic) will roll out its first medium-to-higher end sedan based on Saab technology, its chairman said on Tuesday.

Baic paid $200 million in 2009 to buy technologies from Saab, previously owned by General Motors and has already set up a 12 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) production base for upscale cars in Beijing, including a power train plant and a 600 people research and development facility.

"We have now developed 3 car platforms based on Saab technologies and our target is the medium-to-higher end segment," Xu Heyi told an industry forum ahead of the week-long Shanghai auto show, which is scheduled to open to the public on Thursday.

Annual capacity for the first phase of the Beijing plant will reach 150,000 units by the end of this year, rising to 300,000 units by the end of 2013, executives had said.

The Baic car, if launched this year as scheduled, will compete head-on with Saic Motor, which is virtually the only domestic player that has gained some inroads into China's lucrative high-end segment dominated by foreign brands.

Meanwhile, it has also set up 3 other passenger car plants in north, southwest and central China, Xu added.

Baic, which produces vehicles in partnerships with Daimler and Hyundai Motor , has been seeking to float its passenger car business to fund its expansion.

The initial public offering is scheduled for next year, he said, but declined to disclose the fundraising target.

Xu added that Baic's truck-making subsidiary Beiqi Foton Motor Co will set up a commercial vehicle venture in India this year, while another subsidiary will set up a plant in Russia with a local partner, making SVU and light trucks. He did not name the foreign partners.

Sources had told Reuters the India plant aimed to make 100,000 vehicles annually within four years after starting production in 2011.