Beijing auto show showcases China's SUV love affair

BEIJING (AP) — China's love affair with SUVs is helping to cushion the blow of an unexpectedly painful slump in the rest of its crowded auto market.

Scrambling for a piece of that action, automakers from General Motors Co. and Volkswagen AG to local players Great Wall and BYD are making SUVs the star of this month's Beijing auto show, the biggest of the year in the biggest auto market.

Communist leaders have encouraged auto manufacturing as an economic development tool, though creating globally competitive Chinese brands turned out to be harder than they hoped.

When that failed to work fast enough, communist leaders extended support to independents such as BYD Auto, an electric vehicle maker, and Geely Holding Group, which bought Sweden's Volvo Cars in 2010 with support from state banks.

Global automakers were required to help state-owned partners create Chinese brands such as GM's Baojun and Nissan's Venucia in exchange for being allowed to expand their own production.

The SUV boom has helped to rescue domestic Chinese automakers that had steadily lost market share to bigger, richer foreign brands.

At the show, automakers plan an avalanche of new SUVs ranging from 45,000 yuan ($6,900) compacts to luxurious land yachts with heated seats and video players.

Joining the fray, technology companies including search engine Baidu Inc. and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group have announced plans to develop self-driving cars, navigation and other advances.