GM to set up $250M China research center

BEIJING, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- General Motors Corp. said Monday it would set up a $250 million alternative-fuel research center in Shanghai, China's largest city.

"China has the potential to become a leader in the adoption of alternative propulsion systems," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner said at a Beijing news conference.

Wagoner said GM picked China for the center because of the country's fast-growing auto market, the population's huge number of researchers and the government's push to develop alternative energy sources.

He said the project would be based on the principle of "in China, with China, for China."

GM said construction of the first phase of the General Motors Center for Advanced Science and Research in Shanghai, located at GM’s China headquarters, would be completed by the end of 2008.

The center will carry out research in partnership with the Chinese government, industry players and academic institutions as China "undertakes one of the most rapid technological transformations in world history," Wagoner said.

GM will also establish a China Automotive Energy Research Center with Beijing's Tsinghua University and GM’s strategic partner in China, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. Group, the U.S. automaker said.

GM and Shanghai Automotive will jointly provide a five-year, $5 million grant to Tsinghua University to create the center.