Gestamp, a Spanish auto parts maker, sets up a factory in Shenyang in order to stay close to BMW, General Motor and VW’s plants in northeast China.  ( Photo: CGTN)

Tiexi District in Shenyang, the capital of northeast China’s Liaoning Province, has made its name as a manufacturing base. Now it’s expanding to house the city’s economic and technological development zone. 

"Location is a must. We chose Shenyang to be close to car makers so that we can save on logistical costs. We are right across from BMW’s factory,” said Li Xue Juan, the assistant to GM from Gestamp Auto Components Shenyang. 

Li’s firm is among one of the first foreign auto parts makers to set up a factory in the economic and technological development zone in Tiexi District.

Moreover, the local government has expanded the cluster of businesses surrounding BMW in the development zone, and established the city’s China-Germany Equipment Manufacturing Park.

"We used BMW as an industry leader to invite its first and second tier suppliers to set up bases here,” said Yang Guomei, the director of Enterprise Service Bureau at the China-Germany Equipment Manufacturing Park in Shenyang.

Yang also said while it all started with auto-making, the park is now also home to companies that manufacture smart devices and high-end equipment.

The park was made possible thanks to some $30 billion worth of investments. In 2017, just one year after the park opened for business, its total industrial output reached almost $10 billion . Over 400 companies have registered at the equipment park, with 40 percent of them being foreign firms or joint-ventures. 

"Based on the national strategy, we are now encouraging companies in the development zone to become more high-end, greener and smarter,” said Liu Chun, the deputy director of the Development and Reform Bureau at the Shenyang Tiexi Economic and Technological Development Zone.