Dongfeng to Invest in $2.5 Billion in Its Own Brands

Dongfeng Motor Corp. plans to invest 15.7 billion yuan ($2.5 billion) over the next seven years to develop models for its own passenger vehicle marques, China Daily reports.

Dongfeng officials tell the newspaper that through 2020 it will introduce at least two new models per year across its Fengdu, Fengshen and Fengxing sub-brands. Those makes, which boosted sales 27% to 515,200 vehicles last year, are targeting volume of 1 million units by 2016.

Dongfeng also sells vehicles under the badges of partners of Honda, Kia, Nissan and PSA Peugeot Citroen. It introduced the China-specific Venucia brand with Nissan last year and will be a partner with Yueda and Kia in the new Horki marque announced plans last week.

Beijing has been prodding Chinese and foreign carmakers to foster domestic brands. But the share of such makes slid to one-third of the country's car market last year, down from about half less than four years ago.