Auto giant Volkswagen will increase its automobile production in China from the present 800,000 units per year to 1.6 million in five years, a senior executive said Tuesday.
The company will also consider establishing new plant in China, said VW Chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder at a foundation laying ceremony for the new plant of FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Co., Ltd. in Changchun, capital of Jilin Province in northeast China.
Bernd Pischetsrieder said the target of increasing production in China would be achieved through expanding the capacity of its two joint venture car manufacturing companies in China, the Shanghai Volkswagen Corporation and the FAW-Volkswagen.
The 1-billion-euro new FAW-Volkswagen plant is designed to produce 330,000 units a year, and is scheduled to go into production by the end of 2004 or the beginning of 2005.
Under VW's development strategy, he said, the output of Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen will be doubled in five years while that of engines and gearboxes will also be increased.
To maintain VW's share of the Chinese market, he said, the two joint venture will each issue at least on new model a year, and the auto giant will invest a total of 6 billion euro in its joint ventures in China in the next five years.
The VW chairman also attended the ceremony for the launching of Golf cars in China Tuesday. VW expected the sales of Golf cars would hit 50,000 in China in 2004.
(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2003)
