First Automobile Works (FAW) and Volkswagen have officially started construction of its joint venture in Chengdu, Sichuan province, Xinhua reported.

With an annual output of 150,000 cars, the Chengdu plant will assemble the Volkswagen Jetta model and is expected to help the automaker to gain a larger market share in China’s western regions.

It will also be an important contributor to Volkswagen’s sales target of 2m units in China by 2013, said the German company’s China CEO Winfried Vahland.