SUV maker Huatai launches its first sedan model
Huatai Automobile Co., a small SUV and bus maker, began production of its first passenger car at a plant in the east China city of Rongcheng last week.
The mid-size Huatai B11 sedan is expected to hit the market later this year with a starting price of above 100,000 yuan ($14,705).
The car can be equipped with one of three engines: a 1.8-liter turbocharged Kavachi gasoline engine supplied by Shanghai Automotive Industry Group Corp. (SAIC), a 2-liter diesel engine jointly developed by Huatai and Italian engine design company VM Motori S.p.A., and a 2.4-liter Mitsubishi 4G69 gasoline engine.
The engines are paired with a four-speed automatic transmission or a five-speed manual transmission developed by ZF Friedrichshafen AG.
Rival sedans include SAIC's Roewe 750 and China FAW Group Corp.'s B70.
Huatai currently assembles SUVs in the Rongcheng plant. It is also building a new assembly plant in Erdos in north China's Inner Mongolia.
During the first seven months, the company sold 44,843 SUVs, up 80 percent from a year earlier.
The company also makes buses in the northeast China city of Yabian.
