On January 27th, 2016, the first 2016 Cadillac CT6 rolled off the line at the new Cadillac China factory in Shanghai. Built from an investment of $1.22 billion to produce Cadillac vehicles, the plant is as high-tech and state-of-the-art as it gets. Here is an all-encompassing summary of the new facility.
Standing at 477,000 square meters with an annual production capacity of 160,000 vehicles, the plant has a body shop, a paint shop, an assembly shop, a high-speed test track as well as auxiliary facilities. It also serves as a “green” benchmark for vehicle manufacturing globally, according to GM.
Cadillac China Plant At A Glance
- Footprint: 477,000 square meters (570,487 square yards)
- Investment: RMB 8 billion ($1.22 billion USD)
- Annual capacity: 160,000 vehicles
Body Shop
The body shop is the first in China that is capable of manufacturing all-aluminum vehicle bodies. It consists of two fully-automated production lines – one steel and the other aluminum – with 386 robots.
The shop also features GM’s patented mixed material welding technologies, including resistance spot welding of aluminum (a global first on the CT6), laser brazing of aluminum (a Chinese industry first), and extensive use of the industry-leading cold body connection process that uses self-tapping screws and self-pierce rivets.
Paint Shop
The paint shop utilizes robots to fully apply paint and coating. World-leading technologies and processes, including membrane pretreatment, electrophoretic coating with high throwing power, second color coating and transparent color coating, provide a translucent finish that showcases the ultimate luxury of the Cadillac brand.
In addition, the paint shop is the only facility of its kind in China without a concrete chimney. The environmentally-friendly spray booth exhaust treatment system and dry venturi scrubbers make the shop nearly 300 percent cleaner than conventional paint shops, with significantly reduced volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions and power consumption.
General Assembly
The highly-flexible and intelligent general assembly shop supports the production of up to seven models simultaneously. The world-class digital assembly facility has incorporated the industry-leading Internet of Things system, which can monitor torque information for every key fastening point.
Like the paint shop, the general assembly shop has an industry-leading automatic exhaust collection and pumping system that substantially increases exhaust collection.
Cadillac’s Production Base In China
The new plant will support the growth of Cadillac in China while strengthening GM’s overall industry position. It currently assembles the 2016 Cadillac CT6 and 2017 Cadillac XT5, and will manufacture a variety of other Cadillacs — both sedans and SUVs — in the future.
To note, manufacturing vehicles in China for the Chinese market is crucial for GM, as doing so avoids a hefty import tariff. Traditionally, Cadillac has imported vehicles into China, thereby making its vehicles more expensive than its direct rivals like BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz.
Comments
And why are the Chinese allowed to slap import tariffs on US automobiles? When China joined the WTO in 2001, which has so tremendously benefited this opportunistic and selfish country called China, this type of trade mercantilism was not allowed. However, as always, China ignored the rules and cheated – and the rest of the world ignored the cheating. What bs! GM should not have to manufacture in China to sell its vehicles without taking the hit of tariffs.. and if so, the US should have slapped similar tariffs on all Chinese imports of an equal amount a long time ago.rr
Nice thought but would not happen now. China is America’s new biggest trade partner and it would hurt the U.S. as well to slap tariffs on Chinese products. The majority of large US companies that manufacture products do it out of China due to the cheaper labour, established infrastructure and skilled workforce.
And in the meantime America continues to lose jobs and close factories to China’s “slave” labor practices. Are these cheaply made products any cheaper when they go on sale in the US. Take, for example, the Buick Envision, which is made in China, and coming to the US. It will have a base price around $35,000+. It is manufactured in China at roughly 70% of the cost of producing it in the US. That’s 30% cheaper thanks to cheaper labor costs ( GM China has no pension funding , no health benefits coverage, and no retirement benefits to provide) and very low import tariff to US, yet this vehicle will sell for the same price it would, if it were made here in the US.
Same thing happens GM plant(s) in Mexico, where the average assembly line worker earns between $3.50-$5.50 an hour, with no benefits. An Escalade manufactured in Mexico sells for the same price as one made in Texas. The SRX is made in Mexico.
The Envision has opened the door to thousands of cheaply made Chinese cars, from Geely, and Shanghai Automotive (SAIC), pouring into the US. They will be cheaply made, and cheap. They will undercut the American made cars in price, and the stupid Americans will buy them in droves,all the while, complaining about jobs.
Politicians do not have the balls to tarrif chinese products. It is a new Cold War. And this time we get to finance both sides.
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