WCA November 2010

seven years ago. They are supported by National Guard troops, local police, and thousands of port officers using everything from drug-sniffing dogs to gamma-ray machines. In Arizona, the primary smuggling corridor on the US-Mexico line, there are now more than 3,600 Border Patrol agents, about 10 for every mile of boundary with Mexico. The budget this fiscal year for Customs and Border Protection, the federal agency charged with guarding US borders, is about $17 billion, double what was spent in 2003. General Motors fills a broad spectrum of automotive needs in China – and is rewarded for it China is the world’s largest auto market. It is also the largest for General Motors, which over the first half of 2010 sold more vehicles there than in the United States. Now, GM is strengthening its presence in China by way of one of its major Chinese partners, SAIC Motor Corp, formerly Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation. Their plan to jointly develop small, fuel-efficient engines and advanced transmissions should also help cement the American company’s ties to the Chinese government, which controls SAIC. In their 18 th August announcement, GM and SAIC said the engines and transmissions would be produced by engineers in Detroit and Shanghai for use in cars to be sold in China and elsewhere. The partners have for 13 years been making and selling cars in Shanghai in a joint venture that is now majority owned by SAIC, one of China’s biggest auto makers and a partner as well of Germany’s Volkswagen. At least obliquely, Hu Maoyuan, chairman of SAIC Motor, suggested that the arrangement with GM might foster sophistication in engine design – a perceived weakness of Chinese automotive engineering. “Not only will [the new development agreements] add critical green technologies to our next-generation vehicles,” Mr Hu said in a statement. “They will also build on the strong engineering capabilities forged as part of GM and SAIC’s corporate responsibility.” Its Chinese experience has been a satisfying one for GM, which a decade ago had five dealerships selling Buicks in China. Today there are 27 Buick dealerships there. In July, GM announced plans to create a seventh brand of small passenger car to sell in China. In the US, the company is down to just four brands, after shedding Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Hummer during its recent bankruptcy. Automotive

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Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2010