Foton Motor breaks ground on new-energy vehicle plant

Shanghai, June 10 (Gasgoo.com) China's biggest commercial vehicle producer, Beiqi Foton Motor, a subsidiary of Beijing Automotive Industry Holding (BAIC), held a ground-breaking ceremony on June 8 for construction of its Weifang plant, located in East China's Shandong Province. The new plant is expected to produce 90,000 new energy vehicles annually, media reported.

At the ceremony, two of the company's new energy vehicles were displayed. One is a hybrid passenger vehicle that is sold for about 1 million yuan ($146,000), and the other is the all-electric Midi sedan.

The new plant is located in Weifang High-tech Industrial Development Zone, with a total investment of 4.5 billion yuan. It has an annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles, with the new energy vehicles accounting for 30%.

After the whole project is completed, the annual sales revenue is expected to reach 34.5 billion yuan, profit 1.7 billion yuan and tax revenue 2.3 billion yuan, respectively.

It is reported that the Weifang plant will hire 7,500 employees in production. Through the expansion, the combined annual capacity of Foton Motor's Shandong base will come to 600,000 units.

Foton Motor said the Weifang plant's new-energy vehicle production will be the company's core strategic business, and sales of the new energy vehicles will achieve 25%-30% of its total sales by 2020.

Foton Motor has started planning for development of the new energy vehicles since 2003. At present, the company has become the largest Chinese manufacturer of the new energy vehicles.