FAW may well be planning to IPO later this year, and use the funds raised to buy out their smaller Shenyang rival, Brilliance Automotive.

FAW’s massive profit growth in 2007, and the first half of 2008, has given the Chinese motoring giant the funds and the confidence to start buying up smaller rivals, either domestic or foreign.

Brilliance is relatively small company when compared to the automotive giants of China, such as FAW and SAIC. Brilliance sold only 300,000 vehicles in 2007, a mixture of self developed vehicles, and BMW’s which it builds with its joint venture partner, BMW.

Despite low sales, Brilliance have invested deeply in R&D, developing turbo assisted engines, hatchbacks, saloons, and station wagons in the past few months. Brilliance have only been in the car building industry for several years, however, their devotion, and speed of development in building cars has been phenomenal.