CHANGCHUN, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Sino-German joint venture FAW-Volkswagen has put its new proving ground into use in the north of Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province.

With an investment of more than 1.7 billion yuan (about 240.6 million U.S. dollars), the first-stage project of the proving ground covers 6 square kilometers, with total road length exceeding 60 km.

The second-stage project broke ground in June 2018 and is expected to be put into operation in March 2020.

The proving ground has five functional areas for durability, airbag effectiveness, highspeed loop, dynamic and performance testing, with 26 special test sections and 15 typical ones in line with Chinese road conditions.

Qin Huanming, a member of the board of directors at FAW Group, said the completion of the new proving ground will further promote the transformation and upgrading of both FAW and Volkswagen and deepen cooperation between the two.

Volkswagen's joint venture in China has further improved its localized research and development in China and will be able to introduce more products suitable for Chinese consumers, analysts said.

Founded in 1991, FAW-Volkswagen now operates five production bases in China and manufactures passenger vehicles of Volkswagen, Audi and Jetta brands. The cumulative terminal sales grew 2.6 percent year on year to 2.05 million units in 2018.