CHONGQING, China, June 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Chongqing, a municipality in west China, has become the second largest car manufacturing base of Ford Motor Company after the global car manufacturing giant's new plant in Liangjiang New Area was put into operation on June 18. It pumped 500 million dollars into it and has an output of 750,000 engines.

In Chongqing, Ford has put two car plants and an engine plant into operation, and another car plant and a gearbox plant are under construction, with more investment in research and development.

Alan Mulally, Ford Motor Company president and CEO, said that the great potential of west China has given the company a firm determination to develop in Chongqing.

In the first five months of 2013, Changan Ford has sold 71 percent more than the previous year, becoming the fastest-growing joint automobile brand in China and among Ford's global plants.

As Ford switches its global focus to China, by 2015, the production capacity in Chongqing alone will have reached 1 million units. It only takes two years for the engine factory to be the quickest completed one in Ford's 110-year history.

As Chongqing has already become the second largest automobile manufacturing city in China, automobile giants like Ford, GM, Thyssen Krupp, Hankook tire, Honeywell, Delphi, Nimak, and Magna, which are all Fortune 500 companies, have flocked to Liangjiang New Area.

Besides the high-growth automobile industry, emerging industries like electronic information, cloud computing, general aviation, robot, and more are contributing to the development of the new area.

General Electric, Microsoft, General Motors, and more have targeted the market in mid-west China. They all kept a close eye on the region's rapid economic growth, which is rising by 10 percent after the "12th Five-Year Plan."

Almost ten percent of the world's laptops are produced in Cuntan Bonded Port of Liangjiang New Area. Network terminal equipment such as laptops and printers are transported to foreign counties via the Golden Waterway, namely the Yangtze River and the Yuxin'ou (Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe) International Railway.

The cloud computing industry, with a scale of 300,000 servers, is helping inland China compete with the country's coastal areas, India, ASEAN, and more in sectors including e-commerce, offshore data processing, and others.

Microsoft's innovative technology experience center, the company's first project in China in cooperation with a city, settled in the new area on June 15, 2013. This experience center will provide various services for innovative startups.

The abundant talent pool in the new area is the main reason for the settlement of this center. Meanwhile, the development of the intelligence sector will draw the attention of large-scale think-tank companies.

Chongqing is on the way to become a popular investment destination among global investors. The transportation and logistics in the country's western areas have led to a big improvement in West China's Development. It is predicted that Chongqing's expressway network density will reach the EU level, helping the western areas attract more and more investors.

SOURCE Chongqing Liangjiang New Area