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FAW pioneers bus joint venture with Daewoo

By Yu Qiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-12-27 10:59

First Automotive Works Corp (FAW), one of the top Chinese auto groups, has agreed with South Korea's Daewoo Bus Corp to produce buses in China.

FAW said the two parties will form a 50-50 joint venture on the basis of an existing FAW bus plant in Dalian, a port city in Northeast China'sLiaoningProvince.
 

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Both FAW and Daewoo Bus, which was spun off from the bankrupt South Korean carmaker Daewoo Motor Co in 2002, will invest US$10 million in the venture, the Chinese firm said.

Initially, the venture will have an annual manufacturing capacity of 1,200 Daewoo city buses. The FAW plant in Dalian is making FAW's own-brand buses.

The venture will be the second bus facility of Daewoo Bus in China, which is the world's second-biggest vehicle market.

Daewoo Bus now has a joint venture in South China'sGuangxiZhuang Autonomous Region. The venture, set up in 1994, has an annual capacity of 5,000 Daewoo buses.

The Dalian venture will also be FAW's second bus partnership with foreign automakers. FAW is making the Coaster buses of Japan's Toyota Motor at a joint venture in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China'sSichuanProvince.

China's bus market is growing rapidly as a result of booming tourism and growth in the public transportation sector.