A worker checks a car in the GAC assembly plant in Guangzhou, Guandong Province. (Photo : Getty Images)
GAC Motor Ltd, a Guangzhou-based car manufacturer that develops home-grown vehicles, is set to raise its annual production capacity from the current 400,000 to one million vehicles by 2020, in the face of a growing demand for high-end cars in China, Wu Song, the company president said.
"We will launch more high-end varieties in the years ahead, based on our C-Class research and development platform," Wu was quoted as saying at the sidelines of the annual China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
China Daily reported that GAC Motor continues to make sales despite the slow growth of the domestic car industry. In the first eight months of the year, the company has sold about 226,000 vehicles, up 148 percent year-on-year.
According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, vehicle sales growth in the country increased only by 11.4 percent year-on-year from January to August.
"The big sales increase was based on our principle for years－to develop high quality and safe cars," said Wu, who is also vice general manger of Guangzhou Automobile Group Co, the parent company of GAC Motor. He was a speaker in the annual China-ASEAN Expo.
Guests of the annual expo used GAC's newly-launched sedan, the GA8, which is developed under its high-end and luxury C-Class development platform.
"We are considering building production lines in Southeast Asia, an important market for the future growth of Chinese self-developed cars," Wu added.
Founded in 2008, GAC Motor started construction of its assembly line in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, which focused on making medium and high-end SUV and new energy vehicles.
"Establishment of the Xijiang facility will allow us to tap the far northwest China market and help meet the growing demand for Chinese domestically-made vehicles from countries and regions along the Silk Road Economic Belt," Wu said.
The company said that their plant in the Urumqi Economic and Technological Development Zone is planning to make an initial 50,000 cars at the 1.6 billion yuan ($244 million). It will eventually aim to make 200,000 cars annually under the brand of Trumpchi.
In March, the company acquired GAC Gonow, a joint venture between Guangzhou Automobile Group Co and Zhejiang Gonow Holdings Group Co. and it is now planning to improve its assembly facilities in Hangzhou.
