SHANGHAI, China — General Motors has just started constructing a $250 million advanced research and development facility here. The GM campus covers 120,000 square meters in Shanghai's Pudong New Area. It will house the automaker's China and Asia Pacific headquarters alongside the GM Center for Advanced Research and Science, said Kevin Wale, president of GM China.The new facility will spur exploration of alternative fuels, as well as advanced alternative-energy propulsion systems and manufacturing.The first phase of the campus will open at the end of next year and, when fully operational, will have more than 2,500 employees. Construction started on the same day that GM marked its 100th birthday.Soaring fuel prices and stiff market competition have prompted GM, the biggest carmaker in China, to spend more effort developing clean-energy and fuel-efficient vehicles to maintain its lead in the Chinese auto market.'We have seen a slowdown in auto sales in China, but I am very confident that for the medium and long term, China's auto market is strong,' said Nick Reilly, president of GM's Asia Pacific region. 'We will keep our lead in China.'He estimated GM's annual sales growth in China to be about 10 to 15 percent over the next five years.In the first half of the year, GM sales in China grew 13 percent to more than 590,000 units, while Volkswagen's sales rose 23 percent to 531,612 units.China is GM's second largest market globally and also the company's major research and manufacturing base in the Asia-Pacific region.What this means to you: GM continues to invest in its next century. — Vivian Jin, Correspondent