Automotive Trucks information on net.

U.S. auto maker General Motors Corp. (GM), Japan's Isuzu Motors Ltd., and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. are in talks to set up a heavy-duty truck joint venture in China, a GM spokeswoman in China said Monday.

The spokeswoman said that a letter of intent "to explore possibilities" was signed in November among the three companies, and talks were still under way.

Over the weekend Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that Isuzu and its biggest shareholder, GM, plan to take a combined stake of just over 40% in a proposed truck-production venture to be established in Shanghai with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.

According to Dow Jones, Isuzu and GM would position the venture - expected to be established this summer - as the GM group's commercial- vehicle production base in China, the Dow Jones report said.

It also said the partners intend to produce 10,000 large trucks with a carriage capacity of some 10 metric tons per year at the joint venture from next year, increasing output to between 20,000 and 30,000 trucks in 2005.