GM’s Wuling Venture Boosts Car Output in China

General Motors Co.'s three-way Chinese joint venture began building the Baojun 630 midsize sedan on Sunday at its new 8 billion-yuan ($1.3 billion) factory in Liuzhou in northern China.

The assembly plant, which has annual capacity of 400,000 vehicles, is the third run by GM's partnership with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. and Liuzhou Wuling Motors Co.

The 10-year-old venture produced only mini trucks and minivans under the Wuling brand until the China-specific Baojun budget brand debuted in August 2011.

SAIC-GM-Wuling needs to expand its passenger car business to achieve its goal of boosting sales to 2 million vehicles by 2015 from 1.29 million last year.