Hitachi Automotive System announced on June 18 that it will build an auto parts production base in Chongqing's Liangjiang New Area to tap into the bigger market in inland China.

The project will be constructed in Liangjiang Longxing Development Zone. Covering an area of 170,000 square meters, it will become one of Hitachi's largest manufacturing plants in China, along with the company's other production center in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

The Liangjiang production base will manufacture automotive chassis and engine components and parts.

Hitachi Automotive System is an important branch of Hitachi, the Japanese multinational conglomerate company, mainly operating in the fields of engine management, powertrain, cruise control and vehicle information systems.

Hitachi Automotive System has previously established production bases in China's coastal cities Shanghai and Guangzhou. With company's new development strategy to explore larger market in inland China, Hitachi chose Liangjiang because of its well-developed automobile industry, good investment environment and location advantage as the largest comprehensive transportation hub of the Yangtze River waterway.

Hitachi and Chongqing have established good relations since 2004 when Chongqing employed Hitachi's monorail technologies to construct its urban light rail. In the past 10 years, cooperation between the two sides has intensified. The Japanese partner plans to bring more capital and advanced technologies to Liangjiang base in the future to improve its manufacturing level and supply capacity as well as boosting the development of the automobile industry in Liangjiang.

The automobile industry has become one of the pillar industries in Liangjiang New Area, whose output value has exceeded 210 billion yuan ($33.8 billion) in 2014. In the first quarter of 2015, the district has earned 59 billion yuan in auto industry, a 16.7 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

Edited by Mevlut Katik