China FAW Group Corp and Toyota Motor Corp will invest about 1.5 billion yuan (US$215 million) in enhancing production capacity at one of its Tianjin plants to meet rising demand in the Chinese auto market.

The plant's annual capacity will grow to 150,000 vehicles from 100,000 by the end of next year, Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co, a joint venture of the two auto makers, announced yesterday. The venture also has plans to recruit 1,500 new employees.

The venture's three plants in Tianjin will be able to produce 470,000 vehicles annually with the boosted capacity.

The Tianjin venture also announced that it will set up a research and development center to improve its ability of developing models.

The three plants, covering an area of 1.61 million square meters, now mainly produces Vios, Corolla, Crown and Reiz vehicles.

Passenger car and commercial vehicle sales rose 14 percent on a yearly basis to 922,600 units, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said. But the growth was the slowest in almost two years as inflation and a slumping stock market curbed demand.

(Shanghai Daily May 14, 2008)