Gm To Start Shipping Auto Parts To China

General Motors Corp. received permission to ship $200 million in parts to China enough to build 18,000 Buicks in that Asian country in 1999.

The Buicks will be the first passenger cars made by the No. 1 automaker in the world’s most populous country.

GM said Wednesday the agreement is significant because of the potential for growth in the Chinese auto market. The automaker predicts China’s market in 25 years will rival the 15 million new vehicles sold each year in the United States.

“We are very confident that we will have the market needs for our product,” Hu Mao Yuan, president of Shanghai GM, said through an interpreter.

The parts, all North American made, will be shipped next year and in 1999.

Chinese import rules normally require that at least 40 percent of the auto parts come from China, the company said. The agreement initially waives the rules so Shanghai GM can start production in 1999.