U.S. carmaker Ford plans to double its production capacity in China to 1.2 million vehicles by 2015, which will be the largest expansion of the company for 50 years.

It has built a plant in the sixth Asian country. Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the assembly plant, which is worth $ 600 million and is located in the southwestern city of Chongqing.


The plant will have a production capacity of 250 thousand vehicles annually when it is completed in 2014 automobile did not specify which models will be produced in the new plant, but it will be equipped to make seven different models.

Ford plans to introduce 15 new cars here by 2015, including EkoSport (EcoSport) and small jeep Coogan (Kuga), which will be manufactured at the new production complex in Chongqing Ford Focus next year.

This is the third factory of Ford in Chongqing Province, including the plant, which began producing the Ford Focus (Ford Focus) in February.

China's auto market overtook the U.S. last year as the largest in the world, reaching a sales growth of 32% to more than 18 million vehicles.

The pace of growth slowed this year to 2.9 percent in the first half of the year, but is still expected that the Chinese market will remain the largest in the world.