Chinese Automakers Merge For World Domination

I don’t know about you, but I don’t really have that much faith in any Chinese automaker, especially after seeing those sedans with a one-star crash test rating. Even if they’re cheap and look alright, I just can’t feel safe in a glossy sardine box. Then again, a merger could help to reduce costs and improve reliability.

Whatever the case, two of China’s largest automakers are about to merge in an effort to better compete globally. Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC) is the current Chinese partner of General Motors and Volkswagen, and it is the firm looking to aquire Nanjing Automobile Corp, the latter of which bought the MG brand from MG Rover Group.

Nanjing has an assembly plant in Britain and SAIC will be taking it over to “build sales in Europe.” They hope that this plant will serve as “a window of SAIC toward Europe.” This deal effectively nullifies earlier talks between Nanjing and Fiat wherein the former was going to produce commercial vehicles for the latter in China.