Foshan sees future in equipment production

For example, the company's lasers will help boost production efficiency, according to Zhao.

A growing number of traditional processing and manufacturing companies have introduced advanced equipment such as lasers into their production processes, he said.

Chen Dapeng, general manager of FAW-Volkswagen (Foshan), said that vehicle production will help drive development of other equipment industries such as machine tools and engineering machines in Foshan.

"As one of the key manufacturing bases along the western Pearl River, Foshan will become a major machine tool industrial center in the near future, after a number of big equipment manufacturing projects are launched," Chen said.

The FAW-Volkswagen plant in Foshan has a designed annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles, according to Chen. Capacity will double after its second phase is completed.

"We believe that research and development facilities for the vehicle machine tool and machinery manufacturing sectors will settle in the city after our capacity increases," Chen said.

The plant has produced 133,000 vehicles since it opened in September 2013, generating output valued at 23.3 billion yuan.