CHONGQING, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Changan Automobile, a Chinese automobile manufacturer, launched a global research and development center in Chongqing Municipality of southwest China on Tuesday.

The center, with a total investment of 4.3 billion yuan (about 640 million U.S. dollars), covers an area of over 66.7 hectares and took eight years to complete.

The center boasts 180 laboratories in fields such as hybrid power, air-conditioning systems and non-metal materials. It also has a world-class data center supported by cloud computing.

Changan has already established research centers in countries including the United States, Japan and Italy, with a research team nearing 10,000 from 18 countries.

The company also jointly established joint innovation centers with companies such as Huawei, Tencent and Bosch.