VW to invest 123B yuan in China for new models, factories
Volkswagen AG said its joint ventures in China will invest 14 billion euros (123 billion yuan) through 2016, as part of its effort to become the world's biggest automaker.
On Friday, the company's board approved a new five-year global investment plan for each of its nine brands.
The investment includes expenditures for a batch of new models and two new assembly plants, which were formally announced last June.
But the rolling plan also includes money for as-yet unspecified investments. The previous five-year plan approved last year budgeted Chinese expenditures of 93 billion yuan through 2015.
During the Frankfurt auto show, VW Chairman Martin Winterkorn said VW may have to build additional plants in China to meet demand.
Including the two facilities that are under construction, VW has 11 assembly plants in China.
The company could sell more than 2.4 million vehicles in China this year, Winterkorn said. "We are rather undersupplied there," he said.
Last year, Volkswagen Group sold 1.9 million units in China. In the first eight months of 2011, the company sold 1.5 million units in China, up 15 percent over the year-ago period.
