BAW rolls out first self-owned passenger model

• Source: Global Times
• [14:08 December 27 2010]
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Beijing Automobile Works Co., Ltd (BAW) announced Sunday that the company's first self-owned passenger car, the BA-301Z (provisory name) has officially rolled off production line at its Zhuzhou base in Hunan Province.

The new model, pertaining to the high-end vehicle category, has not been officially named yet and the company expects to sell 700,000 units by 2015.

BAW believes that small cars and mini-cars are more likely to occupy the market in the time to come. According to statistics provided by BAW, market demand for AO and AOO class vehicles reached 148, 000 units in 2009.

Zhang Xin, vice president of the company said that there are currently more than 40 dealers in preparations to start selling the model, and such number is estimated to hit 200 next year.

The company has invested 2.5 billion yuan ($377 million) on its Zhuzhou base to exclusively produce mini-cars and economic compact cars, which include the BC301Z and BC306Z. In the near future, the base's production capacity will reach 200,000 units and 200,000 engines a year.

Xu Heyi, director of BAW said the company plans to establish another factory in Zhuzhou next year for production of electric vehicles.