Suzuki and Toyota are radically increasing production in China, in an attempt to compensate for faltgering sales in more established markets. Thomson Financial News (via Forbes) reports that Suzuki plans to double production "as early as next year" at its Chonqing-based ChangAn factory. The plant currently churns out 100k Chinese-market Altos. But a recent $144m investment in a new 1.5-liter engine for the ubiquitous (in China) hatchback, and a forthcoming additional $100m + investment in assembly lines, will see production rise to 200k annual units. Toyota is likewise betting long on China; a new factory is under works now in Jilin. Set to open production "some time next decade," the factory will lift ToMoCo's China production to over 1m per year. This will make China the number two manufacturing location for Toyota after the United States, where it builds some 1.5m vehicles annually. This will knock Hyundai out its position of top car manufacturer in China, after the Koreans recently spent nearly $800m to increase output to 600k per year.
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Sorry if this sounds like an attack against the best car website ever, but neither “up” nor “heart” are verbs. Could you guys fix some of the headlines?
http://www.answers.com/up&r=67
up (ŭp)
v., upped, up·ping, ups.
v.tr.
To increase: upped their fees; upping our output.
To raise to a higher level, especially to promote to a higher position.
Nautical. To raise: up anchor; up sail.
v.intr.
To get up; rise.
Informal. To act suddenly or unexpectedly: “She upped and perjured her immortal soul” (Margery Allingham).
Just asking. How much profit per vehicle does a car maker get in selling mini-vehicles?
FYI, in case some of you are wondering, the title that Hyundai has as the “biggest car manufacturer” might be a bit misleading. It’s true Hyundai has a huge amount of manufacturing ability in China, but their sales are WAY below the 600K annual units of manufacturing ability. It points to huge arrogance on Hyundai’s part. Hyundai has built all this manufacturing capacity purely on the stubborn “belief” Hyundai execs have that they can “force” huge sales in the market. There is hardly anything factual to suggest Hyundai will reach 600K annual sales in China anytime soon.