Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group


Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group Co Ltd is a Chinese state-owned joint stock holding company that owns several Chinese automakers.
A Chinese partner of Japanese companies Toyota and Honda, GAIG owns Chinese production bases that churn out Chinese-market versions of the Japanese carmakers' models, which sell well in Southern China as of 2010.
It may have a joint venture with Johnson Controls, which should have started production in 2010 although the latter company's Chinese partner may be Guangzhou Automobile Group instead.
It subsidiary companies managed to manufacture more than 650,600 units in 2011 placing the company as the 6th most-productive on the domestic market.

History

Born during a reconstruction of the Guangzhou automotive industry in 2000, GAIG receives considerable support from the governments of Guangdong province and Guangzhou city.
Formerly the Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group Company, it was renamed in 2005.

Own brand

Cars selling under the first car brand exclusive to GAIG, Trumpchi, went on offer in 2011. The sole model is a sedan. The car went on sale in 2011, but the first six months of sales disappointed.
A Trumpchi-branded SUV will be added to the model line in April 2012.

Development

In 2007, GAIG began putting in motion plans to sell automobiles under its own brand and to further this goal had acquired a controlling share in an R&D center at South China University of Technology. The goal of self-branded sales was also brought up on the company's website in 2010.
The Chinese State may have been an early driving force behind GAIG own-brand efforts.

Holdings

The company has ownership in a number of Chinese automakers; an incomplete list of GAIG holdings follows.

Toyota joint venture

As of 2007, this equally owned joint venture was based in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, and produced a Chinese-market Camry.

Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd

Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd was founded in 1997, and by 2005 it had become a holding of GAIG. As of 2009, it is the 6th largest automaker in China.

Honda joint venture

A joint venture between GAIG subsidiary Guangzhou Automobile Group and Honda, it makes Honda-branded autos for the Chinese market.

Fiat joint venture

signed on to a joint venture with GAC on 6 July 2009, and GAC FIAT Automobiles Co Ltd was incorporated on 9 March 2010. The new company has a production base in Changsha, Hunan Province, that opened on 28 June 2012 to manufacture the Dodge Dart-based Fiat Viaggio.