BAIC Still Out for Shopping, Eyes Fujian Auto

BAIC is surely one of the most active automakers nowadays when it comes to acquisitions and joint ventures. After the company made the headlines with the over-discussed bid for the German Opel, the Chinese manufacturer is now planning to take over a local carmaker, Fujian Auto, chinacartimes.com reported. The small car company is currently involved in a number of partnerships with much more popular players in the automotive sector, including Dodge – for which it builds the Caravan, and Mitsubishi for several sedan and MPV models.

Details are obviously still in the rumor stage with none of the representatives in charge with media relations at the two companies releasing an official statement on the matter.

Meanwhile, BAIC is still taking its chance with Opel as the company is now regarded as one of the favorites to get the German brand in case negotiations with Magna International fail. Furthermore, BAIC has already sent a bid to GM Europe in which it mentioned it wants a 51 percent stake in Opel in exchange for a $900 million investment.

And BAIC's plans do not stop here. The Chinese manufacturer intends to build a new production facility in the domestic market that would begin operations sometime in 2012. Meanwhile, it wants to sell nearly 500,000 Opels in China through a dealership network comprising around 400 stores.

The dealerships would sell up to 485,000 units a year of the Opel Corsa, Meriva, Antara, Anstra and older versions of Vectra in China, according to a release by Reuters.

Basically, BAIC wants to reach this sales goal by importing cars from Opel's production facilities across the globe. Approximately 60,000 cars would be rolled off by other facilities while in 2012, the Chinese carmaker plans to open the first Chinese Opel plant.