SHANGHAI, June 18 (Reuters) - General Motors' (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) main partner in China, which will soon roll out its first independently developed car, said on Sunday it was appointing GM's former China chief as executive vice president.

Philip Murtaugh, who served as chief executive and chairman of GM's China operations between 2000 and 2005, will be responsible for SAIC Motor Corp's overseas business, China's biggest car maker said in a statement.

SAIC, which makes Buicks and Santanas in ventures with GM and Volkswagen AG (VOWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), set up a $460 million unit in February to make its own model of car. It acquired some of the technology by purchasing assets from failed British car maker MG Rover.

It is scheduled to roll out the first car in the second half of this year, and aims to sell over 200,000 of the cars by 2010, 45,000 of them in overseas markets, company executives told Reuters in April.