For all of you readers who may not be old enough, there was a time when General Motors was truly the king of the auto industry — domestically and worldwide. It was so powerful, in fact, that the corporate adage was: “What’s good for General Motors is good for the country.”
Well, things have changed radically since then, and GM finds itself in constant battle for number one in sales with foreign car makers. One way it hopes to compete has been to come up with business and manufacturing processes that is less costly and allow it to again become king of the hill.
China plays an major roll in that plan. According to the Los Angeles Times, the American automaker plans to construct a massive research facility in Shanghai to explore the development of alternative fuels as well as serve as its Asian Pacific Corporate Headquarters. The plant, called the Center for Advanced Science and Research, will study ways to enhance technologies for producing ethanol from plant products, study new light weight materials that could assist in better fuel efficiency, and develop new manufacturing processes that use up less energy, produce less waste and emissions and recycles more materials.
The first phase is expected to be ready late in 2008 and it will cost $250 million to construct.
More details can be found at the link above. Our take? We guess the old adage has been replaced with a new one: “What’s good for General Motors is good for China.” But it will also be good for the U.S., too, and assist GM to again become king of the mountain some day.
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