CHANGCHUN, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Companies and local governments in China, the United States and Italy on Tuesday agreed to launch a joint venture for developing sports models of China's iconic sedan brand Hongqi.
The Hongqi S-series project, jointly launched by China's FAW Group and U.S. company Silk EV LLC, will have an investment of 10 billion yuan (about 1.55 billion U.S. dollars), aiming to build the series into a world-class luxury sports vehicle brand, according to an agreement signed via video link.
The S series will include the S9 and S5 models. The S9 will be designed by FAW Group's China-Europe R&D team and be manufactured in Changchun, where the group is based, and the Emilia-Romagna Region in Italy.
Noting that Italy has a well-rounded supply-chain system for top-class sports cars, Xu Liuping, chairman of FAW Group, said he believes the Hongqi S-series project is set to be a new model of automotive industry cooperation between China and Europe.
FAW Group said Tuesday that it plans to sell 400,000 units of Hongqi sedans this year, up 100 percent year on year. Enditem
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