The Hongqi Innovation Building in the Changchun Automobile Economic and Technological Development Zone. CHINA DAILY

Changchun in Northeast China's Jilin province has made great strides in building an internationally leading automobile city with major new energy vehicle projects under construction in the Changchun Automobile Economic and Technological Development Zone.

Its world-renowned automobile projects include Audi FAW New Energy Vehicle Company, FAW-Findreams NEV battery and others.

The FAW-Findreams NEV battery project started construction on Feb 26 in the zone. With a total investment of 13.5 billion yuan ($1.86 billion), the project is expected to meet the demands for 600,000 NEVs annually and achieve an annual output value of more than 20 billion yuan when it is put into operation.

Jia Zengbo, director of the engineering department of the company, said the first phase of the project will have the potential to achieve annual production of 1.5 billion watt-hours, which can meet the demand of 200,000 NEV units. It will also provide jobs for 3,000 people once operations are underway.

The company has also made plans for the second and third phases of the project, Jia said.

"The birth of the FAW-Findreams project comes from the broad prospects of strategic cooperation between BYD and FAW as well as Jilin province's support for the development of the NEV industry," Jia said.

To ensure the registration of Audi FAW New Energy Vehicle Company, the Changchun Automobile Economic and Technological Development Zone learned about the information in advance and took just one day to complete the registration of the company.

Around 5 kilometers away from the FAW-Findreams project, the Audi FAW New Energy Vehicle project is also under construction in the zone. The project was launched in June.

The models based on the Premium Platform Electric or PPE in Audi FAW New Energy Vehicle Company are medium and large-sized vehicles tailored for the Chinese market. They feature long ranges, fast charging and an advanced driving assistant system. The first PPE models will be China's specific version of the Audi e-tron and the Q6 e-tron.

Robots build a car at the FAW-Hongqi Changqing factory in the zone. WU XINZHE/FOR CHINA DAILY

Helmut Stettner, CEO of the company, said that based on Audi's "Mission: Zero" strategy, Audi FAW New Energy Vehicle Company will make contributions to sustainable production with the aim of building a net carbon neutrality production base.

As a major project of Sino-German cooperation, the project covers an area of 150 hectares and is expected to be put into operation by the end of 2024, with annual output of 150,000 vehicles.

Yan Lei, project manager of the company, said that the project settled in the Changchun Automobile Economic and Technological Development Zone because of its complete industrial facilities and first-class business environment.

The Changchun city's industry and information technology bureau said that the project has opened a new chapter for the construction of an international automobile city in Changchun, and injected momentum into building a modern automobile industry base.

Within 30 km around the project, the Changchun Automobile Economic and Technological Development Zone will gather half of the suppliers the project needs, which will play an important role in building a world-leading NEV ecosystem in the future.

Zhao Deshuang, deputy director of the zone's management committee, said: "We will build a 1.4-square-kilometer supporting industrial park around the project to attract world-class automobile industry suppliers to gather in Changchun and build an automobile industry cluster."

High-end Chinese automobile brand FAW Hongqi also has a project under construction in the Changchun Automobile Economic and Technological Development Zone. The FAW Hongqi exclusive center started construction in November 2021.

With a total investment of 1 billion yuan, the center plans to launch more than 10 high-end customized Hongqi models during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), selling 10,000 vehicles annually and achieving an annual revenue of 10 billion yuan by 2025.

The center is one of three major projects under construction in the creative automobile research and development industrial park in the Changchun International Automobile City. The other two projects are FAW-CRRC electric drive system and FAW electric battery and drive base.

The park, with a total investment of 7 billion yuan, will achieve an annual output value of 26 billion yuan when it is put into operation.

Another plant that came into operation by Hongqi is the FAW-Hongqi prosperity factory which was launched in June 2021 and showcases Hongqi's technical strength of intelligent and green manufacturing.

The factory has an annual production capacity of 240,000 vehicles and plans to launch more NEV models in the future.

By 2025, the Changchun Automobile Economic and Technological Development Zone will boast FAW-Hongqi, FAW-Audi, FAW-Volkswagen and other world-renowned brands and cultivate 500 parts companies with a revenue of 100 million yuan.

Zhu Guangming, director of the zone's management committee, said that the zone will continue to make efforts to provide a good development environment for the companies and accelerate the high-quality development of the zone.

The Changchun Automobile Economic and Technological Development Zone's industrial output in the first half of this year was valued at 252.11 billion yuan, an increase of 10.2 percent year-on-year. Its fixed asset investment reached 8.27 billion yuan, up 20.8 percent year-on-year.