The strategy was unveiled by Brilliance Auto's President Su Qiang yesterday at the launch of its Zhonghua-brand sedan in Beijing.

"We hope to build Brilliance Auto into an international competitive automaker over the next five to 10 years," Su said.

Brilliance Auto plans to sell as much as 200,000 vehicles annually over the next five years, according to Su.

The company sold around 70,000 vehicles last year.

The company will continue to grow independently while forging co-operation with foreign partners to fuel its sales expansion plans, he said.

The 2.0-litre Zhonghua sedan was developed in-house by Brilliance Auto, which has been listed on the Hong Kong and New York stock exchanges.

Su said the company has invested US$500 million in developing the Zhonghua since 1997.

The model is priced at 169,800 yuan (US$20,500).

Su said Brilliance Auto plans to produce 8,000 Zhonghua sedans this year and 25,000-30,000 units next year in its plant in Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning Province.

"The launch of the Zhonghua signals that Brilliance Auto has entered the passenger car sector," said He Tao, a board member of the company.

The company is currently producing vans and pickup trucks as well as the new sedan.

Brilliance Auto will expand co-operation with foreign partners, according to Su.

It will work with German automaker BMW to begin to produce BMW's 3 and 5 series during the second half of next year in their joint venture plant with a planned annual capacity of 30,000 units.

Brilliance Auto will start to produce Grace-brand taxi cabs in co-operation with British automaker Manganese Bronze Holdings at the end of this year.

Brilliance Auto is also in talks with France's Renault to set up a passenger car joint venture in Central China's Hubei Province.

Company officials said Brilliance Auto plans to develop more than 60 franchised sales stores for the Zhonghua sedans by the end of this year.

(China Daily August 21, 2002)