SHANGHAI (AP) -- China’s up-and-coming automakers displayed new sedans and SUVs as the Shanghai Auto Show opened Sunday, showcasing their ambition to expand abroad as global producers try to ramp up sales in China’s booming market.

At an exhibition center on Shanghai’s eastern outskirts, thousands of spectators thronged displays for Chinese companies and their U.S., Asian and European counterparts, which are looking to China to drive revenues as growth elsewhere slows.

Amid surging sales that made China the world’s No. 2 vehicle market last year, the Shanghai show has become a key event for global producers to woo newly prosperous Chinese buyers and for domestic companies to get attention abroad.

Chery Auto Co., China’s biggest domestic producer, debuted two new sedans at the show that it says go on sale this year and are destined for export. Chery says it expects this year’s foreign sales to rise by 40 percent to at least 70,000 vehicles.

Chinese automakers sold 325,000 vehicles abroad last year, mostly in Asia, Africa and the former Soviet Union. Chery, rival Geely Group Co. and others say they are working toward trying to break into more profitable U.S. and European markets, though they have set no date.

“We have plans to sell in the United States and Europe, but not yet,” said Wang Jun, marketing manager for Chang’an Automobile Group Co., which exports compact cars and an SUV. “Right now, we are preparing products. We need to adapt to local requirements,” Wang said in an interview ahead of the show’s opening. “Maybe in three years.”

At the Shanghai Automotive Industries Corp. display, willowy Chinese models in riding breeches and helmets stood around SAIC’s Roewe, a sedan based on the Rover 75. The Chinese company bought the rights to the car from Britain’s bankrupt MG Rover Group.

China surged past Japan last year to become the world’s second-largest vehicle market after the United States. Sales soared by 25.1 percent to 7.2 million units, bringing relief to foreign automakers and financing the Chinese producers’ expansion.

General Motors Corp. was China’s biggest automaker last year, with sales through joint ventures with a series of Chinese partners rising 32 percent to 876,747 vehicles.

After honing their skills through such tie ups, several Chinese automakers are trying to establish themselves as brand names in their own right, setting up potential rivalry with their partners.

The Roewe is the first own-brand car for SAIC, the longtime Chinese partner of GM and Volkswagen AG. The company says those alliances will continue, and GM says it is unconcerned about SAIC’s ambitions.

Chery announced a deal with DaimlerChrysler AG last year to make small cars for sale worldwide under the Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep brands.

The auto show, which runs through April 28, opened on Earth Day, and in a reflection of environmental concern, foreign and Chinese producers displayed gasoline-electric hybrids and experimental cars powered by zero-emissions hydrogen fuel cells.

Chery showed experimental sedans powered by biodiesel, ethanol or a hydrogen fuel cell.

GM displayed a technology called E-Flex, which combines a battery-driven electric motor with an onboard recharging system that can be powered by a fuelcell, gasoline or other liquid fuel.

Also on display Sunday was the growing taste of China’s new rich for luxury wheels.

Automakers including BMW AG’s Rolls Royce, Bentley Motors Ltd., Italy’s Maserati, a unit of Fiat SpA, and Automobili Lamborghini Holding SpA all were showing off eye-poppingly expensive cars. Bentley’s Arnage sedans are priced at up to 6.5 million yuan ($900,000) in China, and the company says sales this year doubled to 127 units.