The two exclusive automobile partners of Shanghai World Expo signed the event's first participation contract for corporate pavilions today.

Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp Group and General Motors Corp were the first to confirm that they would build a corporate pavilion and also the first to submit a theme for the joint exhibition.

The SAIC-GM corporate pavilion will present the concept of "sustainable personal mobility" and the creation of a modern transport network that focuses on the environment and improving the quality of people's lives.

The concept is part of an emerging class of vehicles for single-person transport and is a new direction in the automobile industry.

SAIC and GM will use modern display technologies to present a vision of a 2030 city and the challenges people face during urbanization.

"GM has participated in a number of global expositions dating back to the 1933 Chicago World's Fair," said Kevin Wale, president and managing director of GM China Group, in November.

"We look forward to working with SAIC to recreate the magic of those past events and make our corporate pavilion one of the most popular and talked about at World Expo 2010 Shanghai."

Eleven of 16 company pavilions have been reserved. Ten of the corporate pavilions will be reserved for Chinese enterprises.

SAIC and GM became a joint global partner of Expo 2010 in November 2006.