CHINA

$12 Billion to Be Spent on Auto Industry: The government plans to back eight car makers in ventures in the next five years, the New China News Agency reported. The ventures, which include foreign partners, will make sedans and small cars. Light truck assembly projects will not be approved before 1997. The state-backed sedan makers are Shanghai Volkswagen, First Automotive Works-Volkswagen, Wuhan Shenlong, Beijing Jeep Cherokee, Tianjin Daihatsu and Guangzhou Peugeot. Chongqing Chang’an and Guizhou Yunque will also receive funding to make small cars. China produced 1.35 million vehicles last year, of which about 250,000 were sedans.