Changan Auto to build $176-mln testing ground

Shanghai, July 31 (Gasgoo.com) Chongqing Changan Automobile Co yesterday signed a deal with a local county to build a large testing ground in southwest China with total investment of 1.2 billion yuan ($175.7 million), reported Shanghai Securities Journal.

The project, due to be completed by 2015, will be the largest auto-testing ground in southwestern China. To be comprehensively equipped with sophisticated testing facilities, it will meet the needs of testing all kinds of passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles and motorcycles.

The Dianjiang county government of Chongqing city has pledged to sell 2 million square meters of its land (for 150 million yuan) needed for building the auto testing ground, and will provide supporting policies and one-stop services for the project.

Changan Auto also plans to build a new production facility in Chongqing for small vehicles with an initial investment of 2.5 billion yuan. The facility is expected to have an annual production capacity of 300,000 units when it starts operations in 2012.

In June, Changan Auto sold 126,034 vehicles, up 65.9 percent from a year earlier. In the first half of this year it sold 660,219 vehicles, up 34.8 percent from a year earlier.