New power steering plant in Wuhan

China Automotive Systems said its subsidiary, Wuhan Jielong Automotive Electric Power Steering, has begun construction in Wuhan of a new factory designed to manufacture electric power steering (EPS) units.
The new facility is located in the Wuhan Optical Valley High-Tech Development Zone and the total investment is expected to be approximately US$10 million.
China Automotive already makes EPS units at its Jinzhou plant which has an annual capacity of 200,000 units. By 2012, the Jinzhou and Wuhan plants will have a combined annual EPS production capacity of 500,000 units, which would increase to an estimated 1 million units by 2013 when the Wuhan plant runs at full utilization.
The Sacramento Bee notes this neatly forecasts the future growth of the car industry in China.