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FAW announces big R&D drive

CHINA'S First Automotive Industry Corp said it plans to invest 19 billion yuan (US$2.79 billion) on research and development over the next five years to expand capacity and accelerate its development of its own brand vehicles.

The partner of Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen aims to sell over 4 million cars by 2015 with its self-brand vehicles accounting for 50 percent of the total, FAW said during today's Auto China 2010 in Beijing. Sales of FAW cars rose by 27 percent to 1.94 million units last year.

Xu Jianyi, general manager of FAW said the car maker would further improve core technologies and build an international brand, pursuing a healthy and sustained growth.

As international auto makers aggressively expand in China, the central government is encouraging domestic producers to focus on home-grown vehicles with hopes to boost competitiveness.

Changchun, Jilin Province-based FAW, which produces cars under the brands of Besturn and Xiali, said 26 new or redesigned models developed on four platforms will be rolled out by 2015, covering all segments of the passenger car market.

The plan would include 11 new vehicles including four under its Redflag brand, which is the oldest Chinese car name used to transport top government officials.

New-energy vehicles are also part of FAW's strategy.

After investing 300 million yuan in engineering, the car maker's plug-in hybrid and pure electric cars will be launched in October in a small trial.

In the first quarter of this year, combined sales of Chinese brand vehicles topped 792,700, accounting for 33 percent of total car sales. China aims to lift the proportion to about 50 percent by 2015.













 

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