French car-maker Peugeot to open new plant in Chengdu

A new concept car is about to be unveiled next to the new Logo of French car maker Peugeot-Citroen during a news conference in Paris, February 5, 2009. [File Photo: Xinhua]

French car-maker Peugeot Citroen has announced it's chosen to build its fourth joint-venture factory here in China in the southwestern city of Chengdu.

Peugeot and its Chinese partner Dongfeng already own three factories in Hubei's capital, Wuhan, which currently produce 750-thousand vehicles per year.

Construction of the new plant in Sichuan's capital is set to get underway this year, and is expected to take the group's production capacity here in China to 1 million vehicles by 2016.

Peugeot and Dongfeng hope to sell more than 650-thousand vehicles in China this year.

Dongfeng became a major shareholder in Peugeot earlier this year after the holdings of the Peugeot family were diluted.