UFI Filters, a leading company in filtration technologies and thermal management, opened a plant in Southwest China's Chongqing city, showing its confidence in the potential of the world's largest vehicle market.

The plant, called Sofima Automotive Filter (Chongqing), has a total investment of 25 million euros ($28.35 million) and produces air-intake systems as well as filters for both passenger cars and heavy-duty trucks. Sofima was founded in Mantua, Italy in 1981 as a subsidiary of UFI Filters.

The Chongqing plant is UFI's sixth manufacturing facility in China, with four in Shanghai and another one in Changchun, Jilin province. All three cities boast a powerful automotive industry.

UFI Chairman Giorgio Girondi said: "Thinking global and acting local is a basic principle in our group's strategy to support our customers in their production efforts."

"The opening of the new industrial site in Chongqing is another demonstration of our constant growth in the Chinese market, expanding now in the southwest to better serve a growing original equipment manufacturing hub," he added.

Covering more than 17,000 square meters, the new facility produces high-technology filtering systems to meet the demands of local car manufacturers. This includes Chongqing-based Changan as well as Volkswagen's plant in neighboring Sichuan province.

Luca Biagini, chief operating officer of UFI Asia-Pacific, said the plant is expected to produce 17 million filters a year.

"Chongqing represents an import hub for the Chinese economy, especially for the automotive sector. If you look at Chongqing itself last year, it manufactured 1.5 million vehicles. And in a radius of 600 kilometers the number of vehicles was even greater, at around 4.5 million," he said.

Despite China's first fall in automotive sales last year, UFI CEO Rinaldo Facchini said he believes the slip was temporary and the group is confident in the potential of the Chinese automotive market.

China overtook the United States as the world's largest automotive market in 2009 and has since held the title despite the downward sales trend since last year.

Facchini said China has been its largest market and its major production country, and almost half of its products made in China are exported overseas.

UFI has been a pioneer in the production of filters in China. Its first manufacturing site was established in 1996 in Shanghai. The company's customers in China include FAW, Great Wall, Geely, JAC and Weichai.

Globally, its filters are installed on 95 percent of vehicles made each year, according to the company.