Guangzhou Auto to spend $992 mln on auto facility

SHANGHAI, July 4 (Reuters) - Guangzhou Automobile Group Co is investing 6.8 billion yuan ($992 million) to build a production base for its own-brand vehicles that is expected to start operation by 2010, a senior executive said on Friday.

The automaker, parent of Hong Kong-listed Denway Motors and a joint venture partner of Honda Motor Co and Toyota Motor, is also in discussions with regulators about a planned listing on domestic and overseas stock markets, although there is no time frame for a listing, said He Yanhui, standing vice-general manager of Guangzhou Automobile.

"The markets are so bad in China and in Hong Kong it's hard to set a timetable at the moment," he told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry forum.

Phase one of the facility is under construction in southern China's Guangdong province and will have annual production capacity of 100,000 vehicles and 100,000 engines, He said.

The second phase will have capacity of 200,000 vehicles per year and 250,000 engines.

The company's first own-brand car, due to roll out of the factory in 2010, will be a medium- to high-end sedan, he said, adding that the project would be funded from internal resources.