INTERCONTINENTAL Hotels Group, one of the world's largest hotel groups in terms of room numbers, said yesterday it has added 70 hotels in China last year, and the country is now the company's fastest growing market in the Asia Pacific region where nearly 100 hotels were signed in 2007.
Of all hotel deals signed by international hotel operators in China, 47 percent are with IHG, the company said. IHG, which now has 107 hotels in the country, is on track to open its 125th hotel by the end of this year, according to Peter Gowers, chief executive of IHG Asia Pacific.
Meanwhile, with the Olympics approaching, IHG is set to become the non-domestic hotel group with the largest inventory of rooms in Beijing. It expects to have 15 hotels operational before the Games open in August.
Bosch GroupHunan Logistics center
Bosch Group yesterday began construction of a 4.3-million-euro (US$6.31 million) logistic center in Changsha, the capital city of Hunan Province, to optimize its logistics efficiency in central China.
The new center is built on a 10,000-square- meter site with an expanded automotive logistic network. When it is completed in fall this year, it will play a leading role in coordinating all automotive products to and from the Changsha site, including on-time delivery of production materials. Bosch started operations in Changsha in January, 2005, with a total investment of 60 million euros up to 2008. Bosch Changsha is the main production facility for electrical drivers, starters and alternators for the world's leading car part maker in China.
The site offers a full range of mechatronic components and body applications systems for the entire automotive industry in China including motors for ABS and engine cooling.
First Automotive WorksJanuary Sales leap
China's second largest car maker First Automotive Works Group Co Ltd said its sales jumped 46.9 percent in January despite battling with the country's worst snowstorms.
The Changchun, Jilin Province-based FAW sold a combined 166,518 vehicles last month from a year earlier, exceeding its original target by 21,518 units, the company said in a statement yesterday. The group sold 146,294 cars for last month, an increase of 58.3 percent from a year earlier. The group's brisk sales also included 11,263 units of medium and heavy duty trucks during the same period.
FAW-VW, jointly formed by FAW and German car maker Volkswagen AG, sold 65,709 vehicles, up 104.8 percent year on year, beating out General Motors Corp, Toyota and Nissan to be the best seller in the domestic market.
Baidu.comInstant alert
Chinese search engine Baidu.com is preparing to launch its own instant messaging service to gain a footing in the Web application that is the second most used in China.
The country's most used search engine is recruiting engineers for development of its own IM product, with preference to those "with experience in reputable IM companies,'' it said yesterday.
Company officials said they did not have a timetable for the IM product yet, or how much they will spend on the development.
China's had 170 million IM users last year.