Changfeng Motors Co. purchased a set of engine production lines from plants of Ford Motor and Visteon Corp. in Britain and shipped them back in 2008. It now plans to build its own engines with the equipment in China.

 

Changfeng says it bought an engine assembly line as well as a cylinder body and head production lines from Ford's Bridgend engine plant in Wales.

 

It also confirms the purchase of the crankshaft, camshaft and connecting rod production lines from Visteon's plant in Swansea, Wales in 2008. The Visteon plant used to supply Ford's Bridgend engine plant.

 

But Changfeng declines to say how much it paid for the equipment.

 

The company has built an engine plant with the equipment in Hunan, with an annual output capacity of 150,000 units of engines.

 

Changfeng says Ford produced its Zetec series engines with the production lines before. Zetec is a four-cylinder engine available in 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 liters.

 

Changfeng adds it will also produce its own 1.6-, 1.8- and 2.0-liter engines on the production lines. The first prototype engine rolled off the production line in January, but mass production has yet to start, it adds.

 

Changfeng is a small automaker in China. It sold 26,886 vehicles in China last year, according to Jato Dynamics.

 

Changfeng is not the first Chinese company that has bought second-hand equipment from overseas.

 

In 2006, Chinese spark plug maker Torch Spark Plug Co. bought the manufacturing equipment of a Delphi Corp. spark plug plant in Flint, Michigan, and shipped the equipment back to its plant in Hunan province.