Shanghai (ZXZC)- GAC Mitsubishi Motors ("GMMC"), the joint venture among GAC Group, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, and Mitsubishi Corporation, inaugurated its new R&D center on September 13, which will help the automaker greatly boost the R&D of its proprietary products and technologies.

All-new Outlander; photo credit: GMMC

GMMC launched the R&D center construction project in October 2018 and broke ground on the center in December 2019. Covering an area of 195mu (130,000 square meters) and involving a total investment of 670 million yuan ($96.237 million), the R&D center contains such facilities as a scientific research building, a comprehensive laboratory, a new energy vehicle laboratory, an EMC laboratory, a styling studio, as well as a trial production workshop.

The company said the hardware facility of the new R&D center not only can satisfy the testing and validation demands for every phase of the company's in-house product development, but also can undertake the testing tasks from other companies or testing institutions.According to GAC Group's latest monthly sales results, GMMC produced 23,683 vehicles in the first eight months of 2022, representing a 30.95% year-on-year drop, while its Jan.-Aug. vehicle wholesales dipped 46.81% from a year ago to 20,730 units.