Plenea Build A Volkswagen Assembly Plant in Northwestern China
Shanghai Volkswagen, a joint venture of the German auto giant Volkswagen AG in China, this year plans to build an assembly plant in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to explore the markets of North-West and Central Asia, a source said Thursday authorities local trade.
The plant, located in Urumqi, the regional capital, will become operational in 2013, and its annual production capacity will be 50,000 small cars, said Li Yi, an official of the Bureau of Trade and Investment Development Zone Urumqi.
Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of Volkswagen Group, was in Urumqi last week inspecting the preparations for the new facility. Zhang Chunxian, secretary of the Xinjiang Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Winterkorn told the Xinjiang vehicle market is growing rapidly, thanks to the modernization of the transport network in the region and the ways that connect with neighboring provinces and countries of central Asia.
Zhang said the plant will help Volkswagen Urumqi to “strategic advantage” in northwestern China and Central Asia markets.
Dongfeng Motor Corporation, a leading vehicle manufacturers in China, and Shaanxi Automobile Group, Shaanxi province (north), which specializes in the production of heavy trucks, are also building assembly plants in Urumqi. The combined production of these facilities, which will focus on trucks and commercial vehicles, will be the order of 76,000 units per year, Li added.