Night view of an overpass in Huai'an, East China's Jiangsu Province on August 19, 2021 Photo: VCG

Japanese automaker Mazda Motor Corp said on Tuesday that it had agreed with two Chinese partners to form a new venture in which it will have a 47.5 percent stake.

China's state-owned Chongqing Changan Automobile will hold 47.5 percent of the new joint venture, Changan Mazda Automobile Co, while FAW will own the remaining 5 percent.

"The three companies aim to utilize every strategic and managerial opportunity in the new joint investment company and strive to make its business and management system optimal to adapt to the needs of the expanding Chinese market," Mazda said in a statement.

In China, the world's biggest car market, Mazda's sales lag far behind other Japanese automakers. It sold 214,574 vehicles in China last year, down from 227,750 in 2019. Toyota Motor, Honda Motor and Nissan Motor all sold over 1 million cars in China in 2020.

Finger in the pie

AB Volvo said on Monday it had struck a deal to buy a heavy-duty truck subsidiary of Jiangling Motors Corp (JMC) for about 1.1 billion Swedish crowns ($125.7 million) to make trucks in the world's biggest vehicle market.

The business includes a manufacturing site in Taiyuan, North China's Shanxi Province. Volvo said it aimed to start production of its new heavy-duty Volvo FH, Volvo FM and Volvo FMX trucks there at the end of next year.

The plant will have an annual production capacity of 15,000 trucks within a few years, with the potential to increase capacity further, Volvo said.

Chinese Geely, which owns passenger car company Volvo Cars, also holds a stake in AB Volvo. 

US automaker Ford holds a stake in JMC, which makes Ford-branded vans and sport utility vehicles in China.

Global truckmakers are planning production in China due to the booming logistics sector, including e-commerce, and new orders as authorities introduce increasingly tougher safety and emission regulations.

Scania, a unit under Volkswagen AG's commercial vehicle arm Traton SE, is building a wholly owned factory in an eastern Chinese city, while a joint venture between Daimler and Foton said it would make Actros heavy-duty trucks. 

Traffic jams during the morning rush hour in Haikou, South China's Hainan Province Photo: VCG

Rising sales targets

Changan aims to sell 3 million vehicles in China a year by 2025 and 4.5 million annually in 2030, its chairman Zhu Huarong said on Tuesday.

Zhu said 35 percent of its sales in 2025 will be new-energy vehicles (NEVs), including battery electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. In 2030, he said, 60 percent of its sales will be NEVs.

Sales outside China will account for 30 percent of its business in 2030, Zhu added. Changan, which operates a joint venture with Ford Motor, sold 2 million vehicles last year.

Changan, based in Southwest China's Chongqing, is developing electric vehicles (EVs) with Huawei Technologies and battery maker CATL. 

It plans to invest 150 billion yuan ($23.14 billion) in the smart EV industry in the next five years.

China is accelerating development of EVs to improve vehicle technologies and combat pollution. Authorities expect 20 percent of overall sales in 2025 will be NEVs.

Changan's local rival Geely aims to sell 3.65 million cars a year in 2025 while Great Wall Motor is targeting 4 million units annually by then.