Beiqi Foton launches new-energy vehicle R&D center

Chinese truck-maker Beiqi Foton Motor has launched its new alternative-fuel vehicle research and development (R&D) center in Beijing recently.

The center, the largest of its kind in China, will have the capability to produce 11,500 alternative-fuel vehicles by the end of 2010.

Zhao Jingguang, a Beiqi Foton spokesman, said at an opening ceremony on August 28 that the company has considered the development of alternative-fuel vehicles as its core strategy since 2003 and it has already begun to mass produce hybrid buses currently.

The Beijing New Energy Automotive Design and Manufacturing Base, to which the alternative-fuel vehicle R&D center belongs, was set up in December, 2008. The base now has the capability to produce up to 400,000 diesel engines per year.

Beiqi Foton is targeting sales of 1.5 million vehicles annually by 2015 and between 800,000 and 1 million units annually from 2010, with 20% of these sold in overseas markets.

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