May. 23, 2012 (China Knowledge) – Chongqing Changan Automobile Co Ltd<000625><200625>, a leading domestic automaker, announced that it plans to set up new plants in Brazil and Russia to expand the overseas market.

In order to keep the independence of Changan's brand, these new plants will be wholly owned instead of setting up JV with foreign companies, said Xu Liuping, chairman of Changan Automobile.

Changan Automobile will cooperate with more overseas partners and try to introduce its own brand of vehicles into these countries, Xu added.

At present, the Chinese automaker has six plants and four R&D center abroad. Last year the company saw its operation revenue from overseas business decreased 9.59% YoY to RMB 475 million.

By 2015, the automaker expects to sell 5 million vehicles which include 3 million of its own brand of vehicles, sources reported.