(Yicai Global) Nov. 12 -- Chinese carmaker Great Wall Motors has begun work on its CNY8 billion (USD1.1 billion) factory in Jiangsu province as it looks to make new-energy vehicles under its Haval brand and ramp up sales in East China.

The plant, in Taizhou city, will be mass producing cars for the East China market by December next year, the Hebei province-based firm said online yesterday. The facility will span 782,000 square meters and include a car assembly line and automotive technology industrial park.

Great Wall is also planning to set up an East China headquarters in Shanghai, where it will build its second-largest research and development center to better serve the Yangtze River Delta market, a megalopolis that makes up 10 percent of China's population and 20 percent of its economy.

The factory will be Great Wall's eighth in its home country. It has four up and running in Hebei, Chongqing and Tianjin and three under construction in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The firm built its first overseas plant in Russia in June, spending USD500 million to open a facility capable of making 150,000 cars a year. The factory was its first wholly owned plant abroad making complete cars, though it also owns parts production lines in Ecuador, Malaysia, Tunisia and Bulgaria and has a research center in India.

Great Wall's Haval brand is best known for its sports-utility vehicles and its H6 was China's most popular SUV last year, selling 452,552 units. Great Wall's entire portfolio of brands sold 683,251 units in the first 10 months of this year, up 5.6 percent annually and ranking it seventh among all local brands. (overseas, too?)

Editor: James Boynton