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GM, China FAW Set Up Commercial-Vehicle Joint Venture (Update2)

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By Bloomberg News

Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co., China’s largest overseas automaker, formed a 50-50 joint venture with China FAW Group Corp. to make light trucks and vans in the country as it aims to offset plunging U.S. vehicle demand.

The venture between Detroit-based GM and FAW has a total investment of 2 billion yuan ($293 million), GM said in a statement today. The companies signed a memorandum of understanding in November 2007 and received Chinese government approval in July, GM said.

The partnership with FAW, called FAW-GM Light Duty Commercial Vehicle Co., will be GM’s third joint venture with a local automaker. General Motors is betting on China, its second-biggest market, for growth as demand for its vehicles tumbled 38 percent in the U.S. this year through July, compared with a 43 percent sales increase in China.

“The competition in this segment is fierce, it’s not going to be easy to make this venture successful,â€