SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW), a joint venture (JV) between General Motors (GM), SAIC Motor and Liuzhou Wuling Motors, has started construction of its new manufacturing plant in Chongqing, China, with an investment of RMB6.6bn ($1.1bn).
With a production capacity of 400,000 vehicles per year, the new plant will help the JV in meeting the strong demand for its products, in China's central and western regions.
The new plant will adopt GM's advanced global manufacturing systems and processes, and will start manufacturing the existing Wuling models in 2014.
The JV's main manufacturing plant in Liuzhou, Guangxi, has a production capacity of 800,000 vehicles per annual, while its plant in Qingdao, Shandong, has an annual capacity of 500,000 vehicles.
Opened in November 2012, SGMW's Liuzhou Baojun passenger car production plant has an annual capacity of 400,000 vehicles.
With the new Chongqing plant, the JV expects to manufacture over two million vehicles per annum by the end of 2015.
In 2012, the JV sold over 1.4 million vehicles in the domestic market, while in the first five months of 2013 its sales in China exceeded 680,000 vehicles.
