Shanghai Jiading district's auto industry, one of its economic pillars, accounted for 72.8 percent of the district's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018.

According to the statistics of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the production and sales volume of China's auto sector in 2018 were lower than expectation, with the volumes reaching 27.81 million and 28.01 million, respectively, down 4.2 percent and 2.8 percent.

"To face the first slowdown in sales in the traditional auto industry in the last 28 years, we have striven to adjust the economic structure and promote the development of new energy vehicles and intelligent connected vehicle industries," said Lu Fangzhou, director of Jiading district.

"The slowdown will also bring new development opportunity. Jiading has built several platforms for new energy vehicle and intelligent connected vehicle industries and some key projects," added Lu.

SAIC Volkswagen's 17-billion-yuan MEB (German: Modularer Elektrobaukasten) new energy vehicle plant, which broke ground in Jiading last year, was expected to be a key step to help the district take the lead in the emerging auto industry.

Apart from the auto industry, Jiading has also been focusing on the emerging industries of integrated circuits (IC), the internet of things (IoT), new energy and intelligent connection, high-end medical equipment and precision medicine, and robotics and smart manufacturing.

In 2018, those four industries' output value totaled 45.09 billion yuan ($6.65 billion), up 16.9 percent. The output of IC and IoT industries grew 22 percent to 21.7 billion yuan.

Jiading has 1,005 high-tech enterprises and the government will take measures to help them with technical transformation, R&D innovation and production expansion, according to Lu.