A joint venture between the Guangzhou Automobile Group and the Hino Motors has won government approval and is going to be launched in October, said a report on Wednesday's Shanghai Securities News.

Once finished, the project will be one of China's largest production bases for commercial vehicles, the report said.

The National Development and Reform Commission has approved the establishment of the joint venture in August, with a cooperating term of 30 years.

According to the joint venture plan, gross investment in the project will exceed 3.1 billion yuan (408 million U.S. dollars), with a registered capital of 1.5 billion yuan.

The joint venture will build a new factory in Aotou Township of Conghua city, which will occupy an area of 1,600 mu (107 hectare), and will also include a research and development center.

Hino Motors is a member of the Toyota Group and Toyota holds a controlling stake in the company. The new project is the second major cooperation between Guangzhou Automobile and Toyota since the two companies started to build an engine joint venture in 2004.

The new joint venture will target medium- and high-end business automobile market. Several popular models of Hino Motors will be introduced. The annual output capacity of the new project will be 20,000 heavy trucks, 25,000 engines and 30,000 light trucks.

An official with the Guangzhou government said that auto industry has become the south China city's pillar industry, ranking the second in terms of revenue. Between 2000 and 2006, the output value of Guangzhou's motor industry has risen from 12.43 billion yuan to 116.82 billion yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2007)