The first vehicle rolled off the assembly line of the leading Chinese auto manufacturer BYD's brand-new plant in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, on Thursday.

In July 2021, BYD and Hefei reached a cooperation agreement involving the new project, and in less than a year, the company manufactured its first vehicle in the new plant at a record speed, according to local authorities.

The total investment of the project in the first phase was 15 billion yuan (about 2.24 billion U.S. dollars). After the project is fully operational, its annual output value is expected to exceed 50 billion yuan.

Hefei aims to become the capital of new energy vehicles (NEV) with international influence. A number of auto companies, including BYD, Volkswagen, NIO and JAC, have set up or are building NEV plants in the city.

Hefei's NEV industry raked in a revenue of 102.95 billion yuan in 2021, manufacturing 145,000 vehicles.