BMW-Brilliance starts building second plant

BMW-Brilliance Auto (BBA), a joint venture between Brilliance China Automotive Holdings (CBA) and German luxury carmaker BMW, started construction of its second factory in Shenyang, capital city of Northeast China's Liaoning Province, Wednesday.

Annual production capacity at the new 5 billion yuan (73.53 million U.S. dollars) factory will be 100,000 units when construction is completed in 2012, taking the Shenyang-based company's production capacity to 140,000 units, said Norbert Reithofer, chairman of the BMW Group.

The joint venture's shareholders are each bearing 50 percent of the factory's investment cost.

Located in the Shenyang Economic and Technological Development Zone, the factory will mainly produce BMW 3 Series and 5 Series.

The company plans to recruit more than 1,000 workers for the new plant, Reithofer said.

Sales of BMW in China, the third largest market for BMW, increased 38 percent to 90,000 units in 2009.