Volkswagen to close jointly-owned China plant, reports Handelsblatt

BERLIN (Reuters) -Volkswagen and its Chinese partner SAIC will close their joint plant in the Chinese city of Nanjing, the German daily Handelsblatt reported on Friday.

Production has already been halted, and the closure will take place gradually in the second half of the year, the report said, citing several people familiar with the process.

Volkswagen did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from Reuters.

Reuters reported in September that the German carmaker was planning to stop production at its Nanjing plant, citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The carmaker would gradually shift production of its Passat family cars from the Nanjing plant to a nearby factory in the same eastern province of Jiangsu, the person said at the time.

Volkswagen, long the top-selling automaker in China, is suffering from a decline in its market share in the country and is working with SAIC and other partners such as Xpeng to bring new models on the market that it hopes will be more competitive.

(Writing by Miranda Murray, Editing by Friederike Heine)