Inside the dragon

WE TAKE A TOUR INSIDE THE LARGEST CAR FACTORY IN ASIA, AND UNCOVER A COUPLE OF SECRETS MG IS NOT QUITE READY TO SHARE

- DYLAN CAMPBELL

THE LITTLE orange hatchback edges down the production line, sitting atop a metal jig. Yet to receive its headlights, wheels, engine, doors or even interior, it's but a naked body. Looking down the production line, which inches forward slowly but unceasingly, there's a queue of vehicles in a similar state - whites, oranges, blacks, blues and silvers.

There's the din of distant machines, the clack of far-off hammers, and giant ceiling fans the size of helicopter rotors circulate the hot air in a gentle artificial breeze. Men, and the occasional woman, dressed in the same standard-issue blue overalls, move about the bare vehicles calmly and wordlessly, like they've done it a thousand times before.

No matter where it is, there's something endlessly positive about a new-vehicle production line. Cars being born, in their thousands, heading to excited new owners to serve faithfully and better their lives.

Today, we're at a 'mega factory', the largest new-vehicle production facility in all of Asia - SAIC's Ningde plant in China. While car factories in and of themselves are nothing special hundreds exist all around the world - this one, opened in 2019, stands out as a sign of things to come. We've been granted rare access as China, the world's factory floor, prepares to take on the global car market at its own game.

Until now, China's local auto industry has been kept plenty busy competing within its own domestic market. The country's population, after all, is 1.4 billion. A post-COVID economic slowdown, however, is pushing China's automakers to export. Producing fewer cars, it seems, is not an option.