Zhangjiagang, auto giants ink deal to make electric Minis

The port city of Zhangjiagang in East China's Jiangsu province signed an agreement with Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor and German auto giant BMW Group on Aug 13 for a new energy vehicles project, which will yield 160,000 electric Minis.

The two automakers set up a joint venture, called Spotlight Automotive Co, for the development and production of electric vehicles in China on July 10.

The auto project, with a total investment of 5.1 billion yuan ($796 million), is to be launched in Zhangjiagang Economical Technical Development Zone.

"Zhangjiagang is located in the Yangtze River Delta region with a superior location and enjoys abundant innovative human resources, as well as having sound industrial policies and infrastructure, all of which are stacked in its favor to give the city the chance," said Wu Zhenglong, the governor of Jiangsu province, at the signing ceremony.

He also said that the Jiangsu government will make great efforts to support the construction of the project and help create a sound business environment to boost the local economy.

Wei Jianjun, the CEO of Great Wall Motor, said that the joint venture project in Zhangjiagang is a milestone for its global production ambitions. The company will give full play to the resource advantages in Zhangjiagang city in a bid to make a greater contribution to the economic development of Jiangsu province.

The signing ceremony for Spotlight Automotive Project is held in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province on Aug 13. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]