Shanghai GM produces its first own brand vehicle

'After 4 years' R&D, New Chevrolet Sail, the first own-brand vehicle of Shanghai GM, has completed the testing proceeding and is ready to be launched," Ding Lei, general manager of Shanghai GM has told the reporter from Xinhua News.

The New Sail is due to be the first vehicle produced by a Chinese auto joint venture, with independent intellectual property rights. This success marks the breakthrough of domestic own brand R&D, easing the impasse that core technologies are entirely controlled by overseas automakers.

The current joint ventures in Chinese auto market, accounting for 70% market share, counts on the oversea technologies, and some are even reduced to production assembly plants. Lack of own brand labels is a widespread problem challenging Chinese auto companies.

The New Sail is a compact sedan to target at family consumers with its stylish look, comfortable space and fuel efficiency. With an engine of 1.6 or 1.4 liters, the total fuel consumption per kilometer is expected to reach only 5.7 liters.

A shopping centre in the northern Chinese city of Shijiazhuang has built a car park with extra-wide spaces to accommodate female drivers.

The Wanxiang-Tiancheng shopping centre women-only car park has bays that are three feet wider than normal and painted in a delicate pink and light purple colour scheme.

Female parking attendants have been employed to guide female drivers into their berths, which are also better lit than in the ordinary car park.

Wang Zheng, the manager of the facility, said that the design would appeal to women's "strong sense of colour and different sense of distance".

He said: "There is a scientific basis for all this. Women have a poorer sense of distance when they are locked inside a small space.

That is why female drivers often bump the front and back of their cars. There is also a 15 per cent greater chance that a woman will whack her car door into another car when she opens it."

One female driver interviewed by the Hebei Youth Daily newspaper said she appreciated the gesture. The driver, who was named only as Miss Zhang, said: "Female drivers just are not as good as male drivers, technically. The added space helps us to park safely. I think it shows respect for women. I hope that other facilities will take women's needs into consideration."

China is currently the world's largest car market as its increasingly wealthy middle class takes to the roads. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers expects car sales to top 13 million in 2009.

However, driving remains a risky proposition, with more than 200 deaths in road accidents every day, according to the police.