Construction of FAW Car Co., Ltd.’s new 21,997 sq. m. final assembly line in western Changchun was completed in 2000. Producing the “Hongqi” luxury sedan and limousine, it includes an interior trim line, chassis line, sub-assembly line, test stations, and final inspection facilities. The line has 105 assembly stations employing the latest precision assembly processes and equipment. FAW’s 21,000 sq. m. Hainan Island Test Grounds was established in 1958 as China’s first advanced semi-tropical vehicle testing facility. The facility performs final evaluations of design and quality for FAW vehicles, as well as vehicle appraisal and providing state-certified and internationally recognized inspection reporting. The facility’s location at 670 m. above sea level with average temperatures of 24 degrees and humidity levels of 85% provide ideal warm weather testing conditions. The location’s 6 km. long high-speed test track includes straightaways, banked curved, flat curves, and reverse curves. The Xiali Vela sedan and Vizi hatchback produced by FAW Tianjin Xiali Automobile Co., Ltd. are based on Toyota’s successful Platz and Vitz “new body concept” (NBC) platform. The 10,151 sq. m. production facility was designed with technical support from Toyota Motor Corporation along their new “global body line” (GBL) concept for maximum efficiency.

Leading Chinese carmaker FAW Group has tendered a formal bid to purchase the failed Italian design and contract engineering firm Bertone according to Automotive News Europe.

Founded in 1953, FAW employs 133,000 people around the world and sells products in over 70 countries. FAW is a diversified maker of quality light, medium, and heavy-duty trucks, automobiles, municipal buses and luxury tourist coaches, custom bus chassis, and mini-vehicles with total sales in excess of seven million vehicles worldwide. FAW maintains the lead market position within China while continuing to expand into new international markets, executing a carefully planned strategy to build a comprehensive global organisation.

According to one of the sources, said ANE, FAW Group, which isn't as yet represented in the Western European automobile market, wants to position Carrozzeria Bertone as its first manufacturing centre for a new sales impetus Europe. Bertone, which has been idle since a contract with General Motor's Vauxhall/Opel division ran out in December 2005, has annual capacity of 70,000 units that could be extended up to 100,000 units through a third shift.

China FAW Group Corporation, commonly referred to as FAW due to its original name of First Automotive Works, broke ground for its first factory on July 15, 1953. Since then, FAW has been at the forefront of promoting China's automotive industry. Although FAW began life solely as a commercial truck producer, it later expanded into the light truck and car sector. In 1991, working in partnership with Volkswagen AG, FAW constructed a new state-of-the-art automobile factory with an annual production capacity in excess of 150,000 units.

In 2002, Tianjin Automobile Industry (Group) Corporation was merged into FAW Group Corporation, and began joint venture production with Toyota Motor Corporation. At present, FAW's current production strategies put a heavier emphasis on the production of cars while maintaining our dominant position in the commercial truck industry.

FAW has 27 wholly owned subsidiaries and controlling interest in 20 partially owned subsidiaries. Among these are FAW Jiefang Truck Co. Ltd. and Fawer Automobile Parts Co. Ltd., which are wholly owned subsidiaries; FAW Car Co. Ltd., Tianjin FAW Xiali Automobile Co. Ltd., and Changchun FAW Sihuan Automobile Co. Ltd., whose shares are traded on the stock exchange, and FAW-Volkswagen Automobile Co. Ltd. and Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co. Ltd., both of which are Sino-foreign joint ventures.

FAW's production bases are located in northeast China's Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, east China's Shandong province and Tianjin municipality, south China's Hainan province, and southwest China's Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. FAW's state-of-the-art government-certified engineering development and test centre, China's largest and most extensive automotive R&D facility, is the country's leader in automobile and commercial vehicle research. It stands alone in China in possessing both cold and semi-tropical weather vehicle testing facilities. The company's total assets are valued at 109.85 billion Yuan (US$14.27 billion).