Perkins Engines Company has begun production at its new manufacturing facility in Wuxi, China, near Shanghai, China Industry News reported today.
The company said the $29 million facility will also include a research and development facility as part of a multi-year investment plan.

The first-phase production will include the Perkins 400 Series range of two-, three- and four-cylinder, liquid-cooled, naturally aspirated and turbocharged indirect-injection engines.

The report said the Wuxi facilities are expected to be further expanded by the end of 2009, when they will have the capacity to build more than 30,000 engines annually. Its current capacity is 20,000 units a year. 

The diesel engines built at the plant will strictly follow the latest emissions legislation in Europe and North America and will target both the Chinese OEM customers and global customers 

Perkins is a Britain diesel engine maker with 75 years of history. The Wuxi plant is its third overseas plant, the other two located in Brazil and the U.S.