Serbian truck-maker to assemble Dongfeng vehicle

Shanghai, November 30 (Gasgoo.com) Serbian truck-maker Priboj Automobile Factory (FAP) and and Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor Corp signed an agreement last week in Belgrade for cooperation, media reported. The Priboj factory in southern Serbia will start to assemble Dongfeng trucks in 2010.

The deal, signed during a visit of a 70-member Chinese economy and trade delegation to Serbia, specified that four models of Dongfeng's heavy-duty trucks will be produced in the first phase, though it did not mention how many trucks would be assembled in all, Serbia's economy minister Mladjan Dinkic said.

In the second phase there will be joint investment, which means the trucks, with more than 50% of components, are produced in Serbia. This will allow FAP to export trucks to countries with which Serbia has signed free trade agreements, he said.

"The Chinese partner intends to perform so-called CKD assembly, to supply us with parts for trucks, which we would mount in our plants, as with Punto cars in Kragujevac," FAP general director Mirko Stojovic told the domestic Novosti newspaper.

Cooperation could lead either to the privatization of FAP or creation of a joint venture. The Serbian government has pledged to invest 1 million euros in FAP for equipment modernization.

Dongfeng is one of the largest truck producers in the world and manufactures some 1.2 million vehicles annually.