BEIJING - Senior leader Jia Qinglin has officially launched a high-end production base for Beijing Automotive's Chinese branded automobiles.

Senior leader Jia Qinglin, center, officially launches a high-end production base for Beijing Automotive's Chinese branded automobiles, on Oct 27, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

Jia, a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau, also visited the research and development (R&D) center of the BAIC Group (Beijing Automotive) as well as the national automotive testing center.

Jia said the automobile industry R&D center, was a platform for the BAIC Group (Beijing Automotive) to develop its own brands and would boost the group's R&D and innovation capacity.

Jia said it will also attract high-caliber scientists and technicians to Beijing, thereby promoting technological innovation of the capital city.

Jia also encouraged the center to play a bigger role in making the city a technological innovation hub with worldwide influence.

In the national automotive testing center, Jia learned about the operation's preparation works for launching bumper tests and third-party examinations.

Beijing's production base for high-end automobiles of indigenous brands, with a total investment of 6.018 billion yuan ($963.6 million) is the base for medium-and-high end cars and SUVs of the BAIC Group.

Located in Beijing Tianzhu Airport Economic Development Zone, the production base covers 1.06 million square meters.