By Hao Zhou (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-08-13 17:01

Second, Shanghai Automotive will employ 3.67 billion yuan expanding its yield capacity to 150,000 independently-developed sedans and the same number of engines per year.

Third, it will utilize about one billion yuan to upgrade Ssangyong sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and have an annual capacity of 24,000 SUVs.

To further promote its own brands, Shanghai Automotive has reached agreements with Yuejin Group, the biggest shareholder of Nanjing Automobile Corporation (NAC), to consolidate their cooperation in the Roewe and the MG projects.

To finance such an enormous independent development program, Shanghai Automotive has issued a total 16 billion yuan (US$2.1 billion) of convertible bonds.

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At the end of July, the passenger cars department of Dongfeng Motor Corporation was set up in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province. Li Shaozhu, deputy general manager of Dongfeng, was appointed as its general manager.

Dongfeng financed about 10 billion yuan in its independently developed passenger cars program. The new plant will be seated in Wuhan's Handunkou economic development zone, and the ultimate annual production capacity will reach 330,000 sedans. The first phase construction of the new plant, with an investment of 3.6 billion yuan, will start next month and be completed next year. The second phase construction and the program to develop engines with independent IPRs are expected to start in 2010.

Dongfeng has set aside 600 million yuan to build an independent development and research center, and the first independently developed sedan model is scheduled to come out at the end of next year. Its first sedan will imitate the Elysee, manufactured by Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Co Ltd, and branded as Shuangyan, whose engine displacement is between 1.6 and 2.0 liters.

Additionally, Dongfeng Liuzhou and Dongfeng Yu'an, two subsidiaries of Dongfeng, also plan to release their own sedans.

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