Private auto company a model to boost city economic competence
Editor's notes:
Shanghai is beefing up efforts to accelerate high-quality growth after Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made an inspection tour in the city in late November. Let's check out what private companies have achieved and will strive to achieve in the future.
Neta Auto showcases its latest electric GT sports car model.
Private auto companies, with their ambitious overseas market expansion plans, are a highlight in the recent economic transformation that Shanghai is seeking to improve the quality of its economic growth.
According to the Shanghai Federation of Industry and Commerce, around 80 percent of high technology enterprises are privately owned, and in the first half of 2023, their import and export business stood at 641 billion yuan (US$90 billion), an increase of 20.7 percent year on year.
Their combined export value account for 40.2 percent of the total export size in the city.
In 2022, the added value of the private economy in Shanghai stood at 1.21 trillion yuan, accounting for 27.1 percent of the city's GDP and revenue tax was 466.64 billion yuan, making up for 32.7 percent of the city total.
The Neta electric vehicle brand under Hozon New Energy Automobile is one of the emerging brands carving out its presence in not only China but also the overseas market. It has set an ambitious target for overseas sales to jump five folds to 100,000 this year.
Having set up its headquarters in Putuo District, it's dedicated to parallel product development for both left-hand and right-hand drive electric vehicles, it expects to launch at least four new models in the global market this year.
Neta Auto's storefront in Thailand.
Chen Ciliang, vice president of Neta Auto, said the company has been delighted to achieve a milestone of 10,000 unit sales of just one single model in Thailand in 10 months.
Following production kicking off at its Thailand plant in December last year, the Indonesia plant will also start rolling out new models in the near future.
Apart from the plants in Thailand and Indonesia, Neta Auto also entered Nepal, Myanmar, Malaysia, Turkey, Jordan, Israel and Azerbaijan, with Costa Rica its first stop in Latin America.
It's also eyeing an overseas after-sale service team with around 100 employees this year and more initiatives to better understand local customer preferences and reach regulatory requirements.
Neta achieved 10,000 unit sales of just one single model in Thailand in ten months.
