22 June 2001: General Motors has made 100 engineering changes to the Opel Corsa which it has launched on the Chinese market as a Buick Sail. The car is being sold in 4- and 5-door form (a saloon, as on right, is also made in Brazil) powered by a 1.6-litre engine.

The changes include producing lighter upholstery and cup-holders big enough to hold Chinese tea-jars. The car is being produced in a a 50-50 joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.

China is one of the world's fastest growing car markets and of 2.1 million vehicles sold in 2000, 640,000 were passenger cars. The market is expected to double by 2010.

Of western manufacturers involved in China, Volkswagen has around 50 percent market share. Other players in the segment include Toyota, who have produced a version of the Daihatsu Charade and are going to do a China-market Yaris, and Suzuki which builds a version of its Alto. Honda expects to launch a locally-built Civic next year, and Ford is working on a version of its Ikon car (right) produced on a Fiesta base for less-developed countries. Fiat Auto is also considering going into the market with its Palio world car, again designed for production in less sophisticated markets.

Private buyers are currently in the minority in Japan, but by the end of this decade are expected to vastly outnumber the commercial. Sixty percent of Shanghai GM's customers are institutions, government or state-owned enterprises.

The Sail is the first compact car to be sold in China with modern safety features such as dual airbags and ABS and is priced from EUR 11,400. GM expects to sell 35,000 of them this year. BB