FAW to spend 1.79B yuan to revive Hongqi brand

FAW Car (000800) plans to spend 1.79 billion yuan on expanding capacity for its Hongqi brand, reports China Business News, citing a company filing.

Upon completion of the expansion 2013, annual production of Hongqi’s C131 model will reach 30,000 vehicles.

Early in April, Xu Jianyi, general manager of FAW, said that the company will launch four new Hongqi models in 2012. Other media reports added that these new models will operate on the 2.0T, 2.5T or 3.0T engines, and are on the high-end luxury car market.

The production of Hongqi cars have been declining. However, FAW announced on August 25 that it will spend 700 million yuan on the 4GC engine project for mid and high-end sedans. This project will enable a production of 70,000 engines annually.

In addition, FAW plans to spend 650 million yuan in upgrading and expanding the company's stamping workshop to increase production capacity to 560,000 stampings in 2014.