The first phase of the Anqing factory of Welling Auto Parts, owned by Midea Industry Technology, was officially put into production in Anqing, Anhui province, on Friday.

The factory, which manufactures auto parts for new energy vehicles, would help further increase production capacity of the company for NEVs and enable more stable deliveries to meet the needs of domestic and foreign customer, according to Fu Yongjun, vice president of Midea Group.

"There are huge market potentials for auto parts, following an increase of market penetration of NEVs domestically," said Fu.

According to the China Passenger Car Association, the overall market penetration rate of NEVs in China is expected to approach 50 percent in 2023, with continuous improvement of Chinese carmakers in development of NEVs and charging facilities.

The factory is expected to produce 1 million electric compressors, 1.2 million electric power steering motors and 200,000 drive motors a year.

As a project with the single-biggest total investment in the history of Midea Group and an important base of the group's strategic transformation, the factory will focus on manufacturing incremental auto parts for NEVs in three major categories – thermal management, electric drives, and chassis execution systems.

Midea Industrial Technology, as one of the five business sectors of Midea Group, headquartered in Foshan, Guangdong province, has built 27 research and development centers in China, Austria, India, and Japan.

The company will continue to invest in core and cutting-edge technologies for high-precision products such as compressors, motors, chips, reducers, electronic expansion valves, auto parts, converters, servo systems and heat dissipation components.