China's leading truck brand speeds up new energy transformation

CHANGCHUN, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Jiefang, a truck brand of China's leading automaker FAW Group, will invest over 30 billion yuan (about 4.64 billion U.S. dollars) to develop new energy vehicles (NEVs) during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), the company announced Wednesday.

The company will develop pure electric, hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles over the next five years, and aims to become an industry leader in key and core technologies by 2030, it said, adding that it will gradually boost the market share of its NEVs.

The investment will be used to build new energy innovation bases in nine domestic and overseas locations and an exclusive base for developing fuel-cell vehicles and systems.

Hu Hanjie, chairman of FAW Jiefang Automotive Co., Ltd., said the move also aims to contribute to China's goals of peaking carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

Founded in 1953 and headquartered in the northeastern province of Jilin, the state-owned FAW Group is known as the cradle of China's auto industry.