Jianghuai Auto expanding further into PV market

Shanghai, February 4 (Gasgoo.com) Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co Ltd (JAC) said it has planned to launch at least one new car model each year to help its expansion into the passenger vehicle market, the Beijing Youth Daily reported Wednesday.

JAC, who is known for building trucks, vans and SUVs, made foray into the passenger car market in late 2007. But it has big expansion dreams. The automaker said it aims to sell 70,000 cars this year, and targets 120,000 units in 2010 and more than 200,000 units in 2011.

"To underpin our expansion, we plan to add 100 dealers across the country this year to the existing 141 dealers,” said Tao Zhi, deputy manager of the JAC passenger vehicle sales division.

Tao told the newspaper that JAC would make further investment in developing own-brand sedan engines and transmissions in order to realize cost savings and real-time quality control. The company is already capable of making 2.0L and 2.3L sedans independently.

In late December 2008, the company has received the 50 million yuan ($7.32 million) free grant from Hefei city, the provincial capital of Anhui, for the development of its automatic dual-clutch transmission (DCT) project.