QINGDAO would become an important production and research base for special-purpose vehicles, producing about 35,000 cars a year in the next five years. The city could produce about 10,000 special vehicles a year, according to the Qingdao Special Truck Co. Ltd.

    The company expected to produce about 14,000 to 15,000 special cars this year, of which more than 13,000 were for engineering purposes. The output was expected to increase by more than 10,000 next year, of which 80 to 90 percent would be engineering trucks. In five years, the company would produce more than 35,000 special-purpose trucks and 5,000 engineering machines a year, of which about 30,000 to 32,000 would be engineering trucks, said company chairman Wu Hai.

    (Wang Yuanyuan, Lin Gang)