GM Boosting China Production Capacity

The president of General Motors said Sunday that the company and local partners are boosting production capacity for GM-brand vehicles in China to 5 million.

Speaking at the Beijing auto show, David Amman said the company also expects sales of its Cadillac luxury cars to double to 100,000 next year.

General Motors Co. and its Chinese partners are in the midst of what the company has said is an $11 billion investment program through 2016. Amman said that includes three factories due to open this year and two more next year. He said would raise the "total scope" for production of GM-brand vehicles in China to 5 million.

GM is neck and neck with Germany's Volkswagen AG to be China's most popular vehicle brand. GM said earlier its 2013 sales rose 11.4 percent to 3.1 million vehicles.

Amman said the company expects to grow at least as fast as the market this year. Forecasters expect the overall market to expand by 8 to 10 percent. That could raise GM sales to 3.4 million.

"We are moving full speed to keep up," said Amman. "We count on China for another record year in 2014."

The company plans to increase production capacity in China by 65 percent by 2020, Amman said.

The company said previously it, along with local partners, will invest $11 billion in China between this year and 2017.

GM manufactures sedans, minivans and pickup trucks in joint ventures with state-owned Shanghai Automotive Industries Co. and Liuzhou Wuling Motors Co. The three companies also launched a separate low-cost brand, Baojun.

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