PSA
Peugeot Citroën and the Chinese carmaker Hafei signed a memorandum of
understanding on 29 June 2007 to initiate a feasibility study on a
50-50 joint venture to manufacture sub-10-passenger minibuses for the
Chinese market. The vehicles will be produced at Hafei's plant in
Shenzhen.
State-owned Hafei
is based in Harbin, in Northern China, and currently builds a modest
array of vehicles, some based on Mitsubishi platforms and technology.
Unlike many of its competitors, Hafei until now has had no major joint
venture with any foreign automaker.
The talks with PSA are
expected to result in a joint venture to build compact MPVs that seat
fewer than 10 passengers. The mini-MPVs will be assembled at Hafei's
plant in Shenzhen in southern China and will compete on the Chinese
domestic market with similar models from Chang'an and SAIC-GM-Wuling,
and others. They will be badged as Peugeot, Citroën and Hafei.
I notice that the Hafei logo bears a pair of chevrons already.
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