Buildings in WEDZ are established in a staggered layout. [Photo provided to en.whkfq.gov.cn]
The global downward pressure on the automobile industry, severe COVID-19 outbreaks in China, and the automotive chip shortage have all posed severe challenges to the auto supply chain.
Duan Boyuan, a senior official from the business promotion bureau of the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone (WEDZ), said that the zone's parts-to-whole price ratio of the industry is 1:0.45, and the majority of the automobile spare component suppliers are located in Eastern and Northern China. The figure indicates that the zone's automobile supply chain needs to be further strengthened.
Having sought advice from several auto think tanks, the zone has made a list of automobile spare parts urgently needed in the industry, including radars, airbags, and key controllers, and has sent officials to carry out dialogues with 200 core auto spare part suppliers for eight major automakers in the zone.
Business promotion groups have also been assigned more than 100 times to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Chongqing, Yangtze River Delta region, and Pearl River Delta Region to launch related activities.
This year, the zone's business promotion bureau has established a branch in Beijing and plans to add two more branches in Guangzhou and Shanghai in 2023.
Over the first 10 months of this year, the zone signed over 20 project agreements with auto spare parts providers, with total investments reaching 50 billion yuan ($6.98 billion). They are in the fields of new energy vehicles, hydrogen energy, power cells, autonomous driving, internet of vehicles, auto chips and sales.
These new projects are expected to enhance the resilience and self-reliance of the zone's automobile supply chain.
