Brilliance BMW to launch second plant

Brilliance BMW, a joint venture between Chinas Brilliance Automotive and Germanys BMW will start construction of a second plant in the latter half of the year, with investment estimated at 1 billion (US$1.55 billion), the Beijing News reported. The newspaper quoted Qi Yumin, chairman of Brilliance BMW as saying that the second plant will have new production lines and new products including BMW 1 family cars, and it will expand the production capacity of BMW cars to 100,000 units, including 30,000 units at the existing plant. “About the issue of expanding BMW production capacity, we are fully capable of it, because we have three listed companies, plus the back-up of Liaoning Province,” Qi was quoted as saying. With sufficient money in hand, Brilliance will further its cooperation with BMW in the second plant in the future, from currently sharing painting workshops to sharing painting and punching shops and some public facilities as well, Qi added. (May 26, 2008)