Huachen Automotive Group, parent company of Hong Kong-listed
Brilliance China Auto, said it plans to spend 3 billion yuan on new
car development this year to expand at home and abroad.
The group, which operates a joint venture with German premium
carmaker BMW through the listed unit, plans to develop three new
models under its own brand a subcompact, a compact and a wagon,
Huachen Chairman Qi Yumin told China Daily.
Asked whether it will inject more assets into Brilliance as part
of efforts to raise the money, Qi said: "I cannot talk about that
now. We'll have various channels."
He vowed the group will regain profit this year by expanding
sales considerably.
Huachen aims to boost its sales to 300,000 vehicles this year
from 210,100 units in 2006, Qi said. Meanwhile, it expects to lift
its sales revenue by 41 percent to 45 billion yuan.
In the first two months of this year, the group's sales rocketed
by 138.8 percent to 42,700 vehicles much higher than the 25-percent
growth in the entire Chinese auto market during the same
period.
Based in the northeastern city of Shenyang, Huachen has been in
the red in past years because of sluggish sales and price wars.
Qi didn't reveal how much his company lost last year. Brilliance
reported half-year losses of 113.6 million yuan in 2006. It ended
at HK$2 per share yesterday, down 0.98 percent.
Huachen's current own-brands include Zhonghua sedans, Jinbei and
Granse vans and Jinbei light-duty trucks.
Qi said the group is in talks with a US firm to ship its cars to
North America, the world's biggest and most competitive vehicle
market. But he declined to provide the details.
North America has also been targeted by many of Huachen's
Chinese peers, such as Chery, Geely and Chang'an.
In November, the group cut a deal with a German auto trader to
sell 158,000 Zhonghua sedans in Europe by 2011, the biggest
overseas deal pulled off by a Chinese automaker.
The company displayed the Zhonghua Zunchi and Junjie sedans and
the newly developed M3 sports car to lure European buyers during
the Geneva motor show that closed on Sunday, making it the first
Chinese automaker to take part in the annual event.
A Huachen spokesperson said the company is also in talks to
build assembly plants in Russia, Iran and Malaysia. It now has
three plants in Egypt, Vietnam and the Democratic People's Republic
of Korea to build the Zhonghua sedans and Jinbei vans and
trucks.
The group said earlier this month that it aims to raise its
overseas sales to 35,000 vehicles this year from 6,500 units last
year. Its venture with BMW is making the German company's 3 and 5
Series sedans in Shenyang.
(China Daily March 20, 2007)