Haima to build third plant soon

Shanghai, July 11 (Gasgoo.com) FAW Haima Motor Co, a subsidiary of FAW, based on Hainan Island in South China, is to begin construction of its third plant in Hainan soon, Xinhua news agency reported Thursday.

The report said final preparations for the third plant are underway and the construction of related auto parts companies have almost completed. Covering an area of 137 acres, the $219 mln plant will boost the company's annual capacity to 300,000 vehicles from the existing 150,000.

FAW Haima displays its self-developed Haima 3 and Fstar H1 (or Fushida-e) series at the 2008 Beijing Auto Show in April. The automaker once said it would launch new own brand sedans in the B and A0 segments as well as an MPV in the next two or three years, but no model plans for the third plant were unveiled for now.

Since its separation from Japanese automaker Mazda Motor in 2006, FAW-Haima has been selling four models: Haima 3 (middle-end segment), Family (compact car), Happin (compact car) and Freema (MPV). FAW-Haima sold 131,000 in 2007, up 62 percent from the previous year.