IN BRIEF (Page: 1, Date: 03/15/2002) () 03/15/2002 New Buick in market Shanghai General Motors (SGM) announced on Monday the national launch of a new version of its Buick series sedans. Equipped with a V6 engine and two-layer sunroof, the new Buick G2.5 model is an upgraded version of the Buick G sedan, which sold for 293,000 yuan (US$35,300). Priced at 288,800 yuan (US$34,800), the new model is expected to help SGM better tap the domestic middle- and high-end auto market. SBA helps to regulate banking The Shanghai Banking Association (SBA), China's first regional banking alliance, is playing an increasingly important role in the east China city's financial sector, sources said Wednesday. The association is expected to contribute to the regulation of the local banking industry, to the coordination of banks and to facilitating communication between banks and other industries, said SBA director Zhou Lu Wednesday at a meeting of member banks. In 2002, SBA will put stress on investigating the evasion of payment of bank loans and on setting up appropriate measures for punishment, as well as on improving exchanges between the local banking industry and its domestic and foreign counterparts, according to Zhou. Dupont to focus Asia-Pacific The United States-based Dupont has announced, in an important step in the expansion of its Chinese market, to spend a further 90 million US dollars to enlarge a lycra factory based in Qingpu of Shanghai. By September next year when the extensions are completed, the Dupont's annual lycra production will be raised from the present 4, 000 tons to 10,000 tons. The investment decision was made after Dupont set up a new subsidiary called Dupont Textiles and Interiors (DTI) by reorganizing its existing businesses last month. "China and other areas of the Asia-Pacific region are our most important markets and will remain major markets for development," said Anthony Loo, chairman and general manager of Dupont Fibers (China) Co. Ltd. China, being the largest exporter of textiles and garments, is not only the focus of the Asian market, but also the country to which multinationals shift their textile businesses. At a news briefing held here Monday, Loo also disclosed plans to enlarge its fiber plant in Singapore and to expand business in the Republic of Korea.
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