Apr. 15, 2008 (China Knowledge) - Shaanxi Automobile Group Co Ltd, China's tenth-largest commercial vehicle maker, will build its first manufacturing facility in South China's Changsha, Hunan province with an investment of RMB 1 billion (US$140 million) to make self-developed medium and heavy-duty trucks, said the company in a statement on Monday.

The launch of the new factory, which is designed to have manufacturing capacity of 25,000 units annually, is out of Shaanxi Automobile's efforts to narrow the gap with bigger rival Beiqi Foton<600166> and build a nationwide recognition. It aims at RMB 5 billion sales revenue from the factory when it starts operation in 2012.

The Xi'an-based truck maker sold more than 60,000 heavy trucks in 2007. It has set an annual sales revenue target of RMB 30 billion by 2010, according to its chairman Zhang Yupu.