A Chinese state-owned car manufacturing company plans to build a new car plant in South Africa with capacity to produce 100,000 units a year. It will sell vehicles both domestically and to the rest of the continent. The Beijing Automotive International Corporation will start construction on the facility in Port Elizabeth in December and aims to complete the building by the first quarter of 2018, the company said yesterday in a joint statement with the Industrial Development Corporation, its local state-owned partner.The size of the investment could be R11-billion, said the Department of Trade and Industry."South Africa's automotive industry has received a major shot in the arm with the announcement of the biggest greenfield investment in 40 years," the companies said.About 60% of the output will be earmarked for export and the project will create more than 2500 jobs, they said.The announcement comes as a boost for South Africa's car-manufacturing industry, which has been among the bright spots of an economy that is expanding at the slowest pace since a recession in 2009.The government's auto-incentive programme has attracted companies including Toyota, Ford and BMW to set up and invest in factories.The industry has the potential to boost production by almost 50% to more than 900,000 vehicles a year by 2020, the local producers' group said in May.BAIC is China's fourth-largest car maker by sales, and manufactures models including Foton and BBAC. The company also has partnerships with Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai in its home market.The South African plant will be constructed in two phases, with capacity of 50,000 units a year after the initial development, the companies said. That will double during the second stage. ..