CAR TECH
Honda to build fifth plant in China: report

S.Korea, China agree to 400-million-dollar auto deal
Seoul (AFP) Dec 20, 2009 - South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor said on Sunday it and China's Baotou Bei Ben Heavy-Duty Truck had agreed to launch a 400-million-dollar joint venture in China next year. The evenly-invested joint venture will take over the Chinese firm's large truck manufacturing sector under the deal signed in Seoul on Saturday, it said. The combined unit will increase production from the current 40,000 units a year to 100,000 units a year by 2014, Hyundai Motor said in a statement. Hyundai said the deal would help it better meet customers' demand in the world's largest and fastest-growing market for commercial vehicles. "Entering China's commercial vehicle market is essential in establishing Hyundai's reputation as the most comprehensive car manufacturer in the world's largest auto market," said Hyundai Motor Vice Chairman Choi Han-Young.
by Staff Writers
 Tokyo (AFP) Dec 19, 2009
 Japan's Honda Motor plans to build its fifth car plant in China to cope with mounting competition in the fast-growing auto market, according to a press report Saturday.

The new plant, with an annual capacity of 120,000 units, will boost Honda's production in China by 20 percent to 730,000 units a year, the business daily Nikkei said.

It will be built next to the existing factory of Honda's Chinese joint venture Dongfeng Honda Automobile in the central city of Wuhan and is due to be operational by 2011, the report said.

Initial investment in the project is estimated at 20-30 billion yen (220-330 million dollars), the report added.

No one was immediately available at Honda's head office in Tokyo to confirm the report.

Car sales in China are forecast to exceed 13 million units this year with the communist nation replacing the United States as the world's biggest auto market, Nikkei said.

Dongfeng Honda's annual production capacity is 200,000 units and the new plant will mainly produce the next all-new Civic subcompact model.

Honda also assembles the Accord and other vehicles at two plants belonging to joint venture Guangqi Honda Automobiles based in the southern city of Guangzhou -- at an annual rate of 360,000 units.

It also has another plant in China producing an annual 50,000 cars for export mainly to Europe, the daily said.

Other Japanese carmakers are also trying to expand their share of the Chinese market, in which Volkswagen, South Korea's Hyundai, General Motors and Toyota all have significant stakes.

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