Brilliance Auto to invest $220M in SW China plant

Shanghai, April 24 (Gasgoo.com) Brilliance China Automotive Holding Ltd (Brilliance Auto), a Chinese partner of BMW, has decided to build an auto, engine and auto-parts industrial park in Mianyang city, southwest China's Sichuan province, with a total investment of 1.5 billion yuan ($219.73 million), xinhuanet.com said today.

The industrial park is a key project of the one-to-one support for post-earthquake reconstruction between Brilliance’s home province of Liaoning and the quake-hit Sichuan province. Many manufacturing facilities in Sichuan were hit by the devastating magnitude 8 earthquake on May 12, 2008.

Brilliance Auto's Miangyang facility will cover 14 items including a 50,000-unit vehicle modification plant, a front and rear axle plant and a frame plant. Construction of the industrial park will start next month. The facilities are scheduled for operation within two years.

The Mianyang plant will boost Brilliance's total auto production to 500,000 from the current 400,000 units and will mainly produce vehicles of Jinbei series. The project will become an important part of the automaker's production base in southern China, for the base to produce 200,000 vehicles and 500,000 engines annually.

Brilliance Auto, which is engaged in producing Zhonghua passenger car, Jinbei Haise minibus, and A class sedans, also sells BMW 3 series and 5 series sedans in China. The company exports its vehicles to Russia, South Africa and some European countries.