SINGAPORE, March 15 (Reuters) - Beijing WKW Automotive Parts plans to invest about 16 billion yuan ($2.53 billion) in a new energy car project, to cash in on the increasing popularity of environmentally friendly vehicles as part of China's efforts to cut pollution.
Beijing WKW Automotive Parts Co Ltd aims to set up a production base in the port city of Qinhuangdao in China's northeastern province of Hebei, it said in a filing to the Shenzhen stock exchange on Thursday.
It said the facility will have an annual capacity of 300,000 new energy cars, which include electric cars.
Beijing WKW, a joint venture set up by Beijing Zhonghuan Investment Management Co Ltd and Germany's WKW Erbsloeh Automotive GmbH, said it planned to invest 1.0 billion yuan to set up a unit for the project.
The plan has been given the go-ahead by the company's board and is pending approval from shareholders.
New energy vehicles are gaining traction in China, the world's largest auto market, with sales up 200 percent in January and February, sharply outpacing the country's overall vehicle sales growth of 1.7 percent during the same period. ($1 = 6.3157 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Lee Chyen Yee in SINGAPORE and Twinnie Siu in HONG KONG. Editing by Jane Merriman)