Great Wall Motor postpones Thailand plant

    CHINESE automaker Great Wall Motor Co. has postponed plans to build a sport-utility vehicle plant in Thailand, citing political unrest in that country.

    A press representative for the company said Tuesday that management had decided just before China’s Lunar New Year holidays to put the project on hold. China’s Lunar New Year holidays began at the end of January. The press representative said the company decided that political tension in Thailand could have a negative influence on its new plant investment as well as on its efforts to sell cars in the country.

    Sinovel Wind cancels, scales back projects

    SINOVEL Wind Group Co., a Shanghai-listed wind turbine maker, plans to save as much as 2.63 billion yuan (US$430 million) after canceling plans to build four wind manufacturing plants and scaling back three others.

    Sinovel is cutting spending as orders decline. Canceling the Hebei Laoting plant, the Yunnan Chuxiong plant, the Shanxi Datong plant and the Jiangsu Yancheng Port plant will save 1.7 billion yuan. Funding will also be cut for Sinovel’s Beijing large-scale wind power research and development center, the second phase of the Yancheng Wind Energy Manufacturing Base and the second phase of the Jiuquan Wind Power Manufacturing Base. The cuts will result in 930.5 million yuan in savings.

    TCL net profit surges 164.93 percent

    MAJOR domestic electronics manufacturer TCL Corp. said yesterday that its net profit for 2013 surged 164.93 percent year on year to 2.11 billion yuan (US$346.39 million) as it sold more smartphones with higher unit prices and improved margins.

    TCL said it will fully embrace Internet and mobile technologies, aiming to boost the company’s market value to more than 100 billion yuan in five years, from around 23 billion yuan now.

    Yili partners with Wageningen University

    TOP Chinese dairy company Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co. inaugurated its research and development center in Wageningen University in the Netherlands yesterday, becoming the first such Chinese center in Europe.

    The center will focus on milk cow cultivation, dairy product research and food safety. Pan Gang, president of Inner Mongolia Yili, said Europe will become the most important part of the company’s research and development systems.