Brilliance Auto, a leading manufacturer and distributor of sedans, minibuses and auto parts in China, will officially launch its production base in Mianyang, Sichuan province by the end of this year, Beijing Business reported today.
Brilliance has shared the production line with its partner BMW for producing Zhonghua vehicles and BMW cars. But now production expansion gradually has affected both sides, and the potential of further extending the production capacity has emerged, a person close to Brilliance said.

As Brilliance BMW has launched its second plant project, Brilliance has also begun to plan its production extension.

The upcoming Sichuan Mianyang plant will add 100,000-unit capacity to Brilliance Auto, which currently has total a production capacity of 400,000 units in its Brilliance Jinbei plant. The Mianyang plant, as Brilliance mini-van manufacturer, will mainly produce Jinbei series vehicles.

"The emerging exports of Brilliance Auto acted as another factor which drives the automaker to expand its production," an analyst said.

Brilliance plans to export 30,000 to 50,000 complete vehicles this year and 60,000 units in 2009. "The company is likely to fulfill the sales target," a source close to Brilliance international business revealed, "Brilliance's exports will take up one third of the automaker’s total sales within three to five years. The automaker has made big progress in exporting its vehicles to Russia, South Africa and some European countries."