China Zongshen to form another JV with Piaggio

China's Zongshen Industrial Group, a privately owned motorcycle manufacturer based in China's southwestern Chongqing Municipality, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Italian scooter maker Piaggio, for establishing a joint venture to produce small commercial vehicles, according to a report.

The new 50:50 commercial vehicle joint venture will be located in Chongqing and mainly produce three- and four-wheel Ape line vehicles.

Piaggio has already set up a joint venture in 2004 with Zongshen. Based in Foshan, Guangdong province, the plant is jointly owned by Piaggio, Zongshen and the local government. It is designated to produce components, motors, scooters and motorbikes based on Piaggio technology.

The Foshan venture produced 209,000 motorcycles in 2007, of which 57,000 employed Piaggio technology, according to sources.