Jianghuai to invest 1.6 bln yuan in economy cars

Shanghai, August 19 (Gasgoo.com) Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co., Ltd. has recently released its first-half profits and meanwhile announced its plans to invest 1.6 billion yuan ($234 million) in its capacity expansion and passenger vehicle project, said xinhuanet.com today.

As many other Chinese automakers, Jianghuai Auto did not seen profit growth in the first half of this year: Its net profits were 167 million yuan, down 26.48% year on year, while its costs rose 36.57%, with the gross profit of a single vehicle unit down 3.46%.

In a bit to push forward its new product series, Jianghuai Auto will launch another round of fund-raising for 1.6 billion yuan. The major part of the investment will go to the development of economy sedans, including an economy sedan (A-Class) project with an annual capacity of 100,000 units.

The other projects include a passenger vehicle project of 60,000-unit capacity, a low-emission engine project of 200,000-unit output, an automatic transmission project of 100,000-unit output, and a passenger car transmission project of 260,000-unit capacity.

Reportedly, the first mid-class sedan Binyue developed Jianghuai Auto at great expense did not sell so well as expected. Launched to market at the beginning of this year, the Jianghuai Binyue sold 6,760 units by the end of June, with 1,701 units sold in January, but 517 units in May.

Jianghuai Binyue