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The Chinese automobile industry is targeting the western part of China as a key region for developing domestic sales now that cars are gaining popularity in the east.
In the next five years, China's transportation, infrastructure and the urbanization situation will greatly stimulate the car market in the west.
According to a recently released analysis of the domestic automobile industry, the need for heavy and middle-size trucks will keep growing. As the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, one of China's major projects for the tenth Five-Year Plan Period (2001-2005), has started construction, trucks from ten construction companies will work within this 1,118-kilometer railway.
Meanwhile, a large number of trucks will be needed to upgrade the roads to the famous scenic destination Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan Province, southwest China.
China plans to build eight major roads in the west, which will form a convenient transportation network among provinces. "Many construction sites will emerge in western China, with thousands of trucks all over. So the truck market is no less important than the car market," according to an official with China's automobile industry.
"The strategy to develop the western area will promote the economic growth and the extension of the roads as well as encourage the sustainable and continuous development of cars," according to Su Bo, an official with the State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC). Over the next five years, China will manufacture more compact cars and pickups. As farmers' income keeps increasing, so does their need for agricultural vehicles.
(Xinhua 07/09/2001)
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