China's SAIC Might Purchase Opel Insignia Platform

And here we go again.. The Chinese manufacturer Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, mostly known as SAIC, intends to purchase the Buick Regal platform, the same on which is based Opel's Insignia, to produce its very own models in China. A group of SAIC representatives have already discussed the possibility of purchasing the platform with Joseph Liu, GM Asia Pacific's vice president for sales and marketing, 21st Century Business Herald reported.

According to theautochannel.com, SAIC could use the Insignia platform to develop a new generation Roewe 750 but both General Motors and the Chinese manufacturer refused to comment on the report.

This is not the first time SAIC holds talks with General Motors, with earlier reports claiming the Chinese automaker negotiated with the American manufacturer a potential acquisition of Opel/Vauxhall. Sourced said that executives of the Chinese company travelled to Germany to discuss on the plans, with German officials repeatedly saying the bid is still open to everyone interested.

Separately, SAIC's business isn't performing too well as the Chinese group posted a 50 percent loss in the first quarter of 2009, in spite of its enthusiastic goal to sell 1.8 million vehicles this year.

"The weak results for 2008 are no surprise at all due to the unexpected downturn of the car market in the second half. But the market is warming up since February and SAIC is already showing improvement in Q1 compared with Q4 of 2008," Chen Qiaoning, ABN AMRO TEDA Fund Management told Reuters.

"SsangYong remains a big issue hanging out there for SAIC, but without additional provisions presumably this year, its results for 2009 could be prettier."