FAW to boost hybrid vehicle manufacturing

Shanghai, May 11 (Gasgoo.com) FAW started construction of its new-energy vehicle manufacturing base at the end of 2008, a project that is expected to be completed in 2012, with an annual capacity of 1,000 hybrid buses and 11,000 hybrid sedans, sina.com said today.

Chinese auto giant FAW Group is one of the carmakers in China that has entered the hybrid vehicle segment. FAW has conducted the hybrid car R&D since 1995, and now the company has established the platforms for hybrid buses and hybrid sedans.

According to its new-energy vehicle development strategy which FAW Group announced at the beginning of this year, the No. 2 Chinese carmaker (after SAIC Group) aimed to make 100 hybrid buses and 20 hybrid sedans in 2009; 200 hybrid buses and 100 hybrid sedans in 2010; 450 hybrid buses and 200 hybrid sedans in 2011.

And in 2012, FAW will complete construction of its new-energy vehicle manufacturing base with an annual capacity of 11,000 hybrid sedans and 1,000 hybrid buses. FAW's output goal for the year 2012 will include 800 hybrid buses and 1,600 hybrid sedans.

In early January this year, the company launched road tests of 12 urban hybrid buses in Dalian city in northeastern China's Liaoning province, and another 88 new-energy buses will be added to the city's bus fleet afterwards.

The Chinese government said in February that it would subsidize purchases of clean-energy vehicles for public service fleets in 13 cities and would provide 10 billion yuan ($1.47 bln) over the next three years to automakers to help update their technology and develop alternative energy vehicles.

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