ULYANOVSK, Russia - China's fifth largest automotive group, Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC Group), announced Tuesday the establishment of a joint venture with Russia's AMS Auto.

The Beijing-based BAIC Group said total investment in the joint venture, BAW-RUS Automotive Co., Ltd., is about $176 million, with a registered capital of 20 million dollars.

Two companies in the BAIC Group - Beijing Automotive Works (BAW) and BAIC International Corp. - and BAW Motor Corp. (BMC), an AMS affiliate, are involved in the joint venture that will produce light, medium and heavy cargo trucks to be sold under the BAW brand in Russia.

BAW, BAIC International Corporation and BMC will hold respectively 42 percent, 8 percent and 50 percent of the shares.

The joint venture is expected to produce 60,000 units per year by 2017.

"The cooperation between BAIC Group and AMS is a long-term, strategic decision," said BAIC chairman Xu Heyi. "BAIC Group looks forward to expanding our cooperation with AMS in the future to supply a wider range of vehicles to Russia."

The BAIC Group, established in 1958, sold 1.5 million vehicles with revenues of 158.4 billion RMB ($24.5 billion) in 2010.