SHANGHAI - Chinese carmaker Jianghuai Automobile Co plans to raise a maximum of 2.8 billion yuan ($426 million) through the issue of new shares, the company said on Friday.

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Jianghuai Auto said it would issue 150 million new shares to the open market and it plans to use the funds to expand its production capacity for passenger cars.

The firm said the money would also go towards supporting its plans to lift the annual production of its high-end gasoline engines to 200,000 units.

The company said its 2010 net profit surged 243.8 percent from a year ago to 1.18 billion yuan.