Government OKs Beijing Auto's overall listing plan

Shanghai. February 4 (Gasgoo.com) – The State-owned Asset Supervision and Management Commission of Beijing City Government has in principle approved Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp overall listing plan, local newspaper reported today.

 

Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp or Beijing Auto Group has submitted its overall listing plan to China Securities Regulatory Commission for final approval.

 

Beijing Auto Group consists of three auto making companies: Beiqi Foton, Beijing Hyundai and Beijing-Benz-Daimlerchrysler.

 

Last year, Beiqi Foton sold 400,000 vehicles, up 16.9 percent from one year earlier. The sales figure has made the Chinese automaker world second largest commercial vehicle maker after Mercedes-Benz.

 

Beijing Hyundai sold 231,137 vehicles in Chinese market, a significant decrease from one year earlier. However, with the opening of its second plant earlier this year, Beijing Hyundai hopes to sell 380,000 vehicles this year.

 

Beijing-Benz-Daimlerchrysler sold a total 21,181 vehicles in Chinese market last year, which include 7,959 Chrysler 300 C vehicles, 6,020 Mitsubishi Outlander vehicles and 6,882 Mercedes-Benz E class vehicles.

 

Separately, Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp (BAIC) is also planning to build a new automobile manufacturing base with a total investment of 2 billion Yuan ($275.6 million) in southern China's Hunan province.

 

Xu Heyi, chairman of Beijing Auto or Beiqi in Chinese, has reportedly decided on the location for the new plant, 60 kilometers off Changsha, capital city of Hunan, where Beiqi has already set up a manufacturing base. The new plant, which is scheduled to start operation in 2010, has an initial capacity of 200,000 vehicles per annum.

 

Upon the completion of the production unit in Zhuzhou,by the year 2010, Beiqi will have a combined capacity of 1.5 million vehicles.

 

Vehicles to be produced in Zhuzhou will include light-duty trucks and buses, pickups and sports utility vehicles (SUVs). It's not clear whether Beiqi's self-developed Beijing-branded sedans could be assembled there, but company source said that low-end products in Beiqi's portfolio will be produced in Zhuzhou.