Several Chinese automakers have used Italian design houses to develop new vehicles, and now one is opening its own styling centre in the country on Wednesday.

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Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co. (JAC) Italian Research and Development Centre is considered the first overseas R&Doperation for a Chinese carmaker, according to Automotive News Europe.


“We came to Italy because it is the strongest nation for design and the Turin area has an unparallel automotive design infrastructure,” said Lou Tik, director of the centre.


Tik, 27, holds a master’s in automotive design from the Coventry Polytechnic. He will be the only Chinese national working there.


His staff currently includes other two designers, one British and one Turkish-Italian. Tik expects to have 10 designers by year-end.

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“We are looking to hire European designers, because the design of future Chinese cars is heavily influenced by Europeans, especially Italians,” Tik said.


JAC is one of the 14 subsidiaries of the Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group, which last year built 130,000 vehicles, mainly heavy- and medium-duty trucks and buses, generating 10.8 billion renminbi (€1.07 billion) in revenues.


JAC’s passenger-vehicle production last year was still negligible, just 17,245 Refine minivans, a variant of the Hyundai Starex built under licence.


But JAC will introduce late this year an SUV derived from the Hyundai Santa Fe, which it has code-named SRV. Installed capacity in China for the Refine and SRV is 80,000 units a year on two shifts.


JAC plans to introduce three passenger cars in the coming years.


A premium sedan about the size of the Audi A8 will debut next year at the Beijing auto show and production could begin by the end of 2006.