China's Shanghai Auto Group and Germany's Volkswagen, two parent companies of the Shanghai Volkswagen Corporation, have decided to increase investment of 1.5billion yuan in the joint venture.

The increased investment will be used to rebuild the No. 5 Plant of Shanghai Volkswagen in the Pudong area of Shanghai, expanding its production capacity to 150,000 sedans a year.

Shanghai Volkswagen is the largest sedan producer in China. With the investment increase, the registered capital of Shanghai Volkswagen has reached 7.8 billion yuan and its total assets reached nearly 30 billion yuan. So far, the company has had six investment increases in the past 20 years.

Currently, Shanghai Volkswagen has three car plants, one engineplant and a car development and research center. In 2003, it produced 396,000 sedans, taking the lead in the country. The figure is expected to reach 462,000 sedans this year.
 
(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2004)