Chinese automaker Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) has begun construction of a large industrial park for electric and intelligent vehicles. Located in Guangzhou’s Panyu district, the park has a planned area of 5 square km. More than 45 billion yuan ($6.5 billion) is expected to be invested in the project, by both GAC and other enterprises that will locate there.

GAC aims to make the new industrial park a collaborative, open center of manufacturing for electric and intelligent vehicles, which will advance GAC’s global branding strategy.

A new EV plant is expected to be completed by the end of 2018 with a total investment of 4.69 billion yuan ($679 million), providing GAC Motor with a production capacity of 200,000 units per year.

“In the coming five years, we will push out at least seven new electric vehicle models and cover three product series including pure electric, range-extending and hybrid,” said Yu Jun, General Manager of GAC Motor. “Our goal is for GAC Motor to take the lead in the EV business and achieve sales of 20,000 electric vehicles by 2020.”

GAC Motor unveiled its first pure EV, the GE3, at the Detroit auto show in January, and released a new plug-in sedan and a plug-in SUV at Auto Shanghai in April. The company aims to enter the US market by 2019.

Source: Guangzhou Automobile Group via Green Car Congress