The Chinese government has taken another important step in opening
its automotive industry wider to domestic private investors by
allowing Brilliance Auto to produce and sell its passenger cars.
Brilliance Auto, a subsidiary of the China Brilliance Group, a
privately owned financial and manufacturing company, yesterday said
it has gained the go-ahead from the central government to produce
and sell the company's self-developed Zhonghua-brand sedan.
"We are very pleased with the government's decision," said Sheng
Jun, head of Brilliance Auto's sales division.
The government's decision came six months after it permitted Geely
Group, a private carmaker based in East China's Zhejiang Province,
to produce and sell cars.
Asked to comment on the decision, Su Bo, an official from the State Economic
and Trade Commission, said: "It signals that the industry will
open wider gradually to non-state investment with the deepening of
its fund-raising reform."
State investment has dominated the industry, which now faces great
challenges following China's entry into the World Trade
Organization last December.
Sheng said the Zhonghua sedan, which rolled off the assembly lines
last December at Brilliance Auto's plant in Shenyang, northeast
China's Liaoning Province, will be launched this autumn.
"Components for Zhonghua will be purchased globally," Sheng
said.
Prices of the Zhonghua model, equipped with 2.0-liter or larger
engines, will range from 150,000 yuan (US$18,100) to 250,000 yuan
(US$30,000), Sheng said.
Brilliance Auto plans to develop 60 franchise dealers for Zhonghua
sedans nationwide by the end of this year, he added.
The company said German carmaker BMW is providing technical
assistance to Brilliance Auto on the Zhonghua sedan. The two
companies are awaiting the government's approval for a passenger
car joint venture project.
Su
said the government will approve the joint venture project "very
soon." However, Brilliance Auto did not mention it at a press
conference yesterday.
According to Suo Yan, spokesperson for China Brilliance Group,
automobile manufacturing will be the company's core business.
China Brilliance Group, which has seven listed subsidiaries in New
York, Hong Kong and Shanghai, invested more than 5 billion yuan
(US$604 million) in the automobile sector over the past 10
years.
"We are seeking more cooperation with foreign partners," Suo
said.
The company is also in talks with French automaker Renault to set
up a passenger car joint venture in central China's Hubei
Province.
Brilliance Auto said it is expected to begin production of
Austin-brand cabs at its Shenyang plant in cooperation with British
automaker Manganese Bronze Holdings at the end of this year.
The company also said it will launch its Grace commercial wagon on
the market next month. The model is made in cooperation with
Japan's largest automaker Toyota Motor Corp.
Brilliance Auto is also currently producing Sea Lion-brand buses
whose sales have amounted to more than 23,000 units so far this
year, the company said.
The company said it will display its Zhonghua, Grace and Sea lion
brands at the Beijing International Auto Show, scheduled from June
6 to 13.
(China Daily May 30,
2002)