Anhui?Jianghuai Automotive Co will build a 407 million yuan (US$59.7 million) plant to make light commercial vehicles in east China's Shandong Province.

The new plant will be able to turn out 100,000 light pickups annually when it is completed in 2012, JAC said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday.

It sold 123,219 passenger cars last year, a jump of 112 percent from a year earlier, thanks to the government stimulus measures that spurred demand for small cars. JAC aims to more than double its passenger car sales to 300,000 units this year.

"We are considering building a second plant and adding extra work shifts for our passenger cars," said Zhang Xianhua, assistant to general manager at JAC Passenger Car Sales Co.