Dongfeng eyes future in own-brand vehicles

China's second-biggest auto group Dongfeng Motor Corp plans to invest heavily in its newly restructured passenger vehicle brand over the next couple of years.

The partner of PSA Peugeot Citroen, Nissan, Honda and Kia said it will spend 15.65 billion yuan in research and development on its own passenger vehicle unit from 2013 to 2020.

The company based in the central China city of Wuhan aims to double annual sales of its own-brand passenger vehicles to 1 million units by 2016, it said during the ongoing Shanghai auto show. Sales of its own-brand passenger vehicles jumped by 27.29 percent last year to 515,200 units.

Under the umbrella brand of its own passenger car unit Dongfeng, it has three subordinate nameplates, the Fengshen, Fengxing and Fengdu.

According to Li Chunrong, deputy-general manager of Dongfeng's passenger vehicle unit, the brand's slogan is "advancement with pride" and has core values of "fashion, technology, family care and trust".

"We will create other new (subordinate) nameplates in the future," Li said, without providing details.

Fang Chi, director of the group's technical center, said Dongfeng will employ international technologies to develop and launch at least two to three new passenger vehicle models annually in the years to 2020.

The lineup will range from subcompact, compact and mid-sized cars to large sedans, SUVs and MPVs.

The group has set up several centers for different aspects of research and development in Europe, the United States and Japan to back the Dongfeng passenger vehicle brand, Fang said.