China’s car market energized by opening up efforts
By Wang
Zheng from People’s Daily
In the Tesla's
new gigafactory in Shanghai, hammer apparatus, excavators, dumper lorries, and dozens
of electric workers are busy with the construction of a plant that is capable
of producing 500,000 cars each year upon completion.
As the
first wholly foreign-owned new-energy car subsidiary in China, the super
factory received 50 billion yuan ($7.45 billion) of investment from Tesla.
Started on January, the project is scheduled to be completed in July and put
into operation by the end of 2019, which stands for a high-efficient job since
it usually takes at least 18 months to build such a sizable factory.
The US electric
car maker is one of the latest and symbolic beneficiaries of China’s new round
of efforts to open up the auto sector. The country announced to phase out
share-holding limits for foreign investors in automobile sector last April and cut
import tariffs on vehicle products a month later.
Thanks
to the stepped-up efforts in opening up the sector, Tesla inked the agreement to
set up wholly-owned subsidiary in China last July, and German automaker BMW took
a majority stake in its China joint
venture in October 2018, making itself the first beneficiary since China
relaxed the joint-venture equity limit for automobile sector.
In six
months, the
country’s determination to deliver its words has ignited enthusiasm of auto
makers across the world to put a bet on the Chinese market.
Five
months after Tesla sealed the agreement of plant establishment in July 2018, it
moved fast to break the ground in this January.
Elon
Musk, CEO of the American car manufacturer, wowed China’s impressive development
speed and working efficiency, saying that it is hard to imagine that the
process of opening a car factory could be done in such a short period of time.
It
is benefited from China’s sound business environment and demonstrates China’s
resolution to open up to the outside world, he added.
BMW is
another foreign investor gripped by China’s resolution. The Munich-based maker,
on October 11, 2018, announced to increase investment in the joint venture it
set up with Chinese partner Brilliance Auto.
A
groundbreaking ceremony was held for a new BMW Brilliance plant in Tiexi
district in the city of Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province on that day.
According
to their cooperation plan, BMW would invest more than 3 billion euros to help
the factory increase its annual production capacity to 650,000 vehicles in
three to five years.
“A total
of over 52 billion yuan has been invested to build a high-end car manufacturing
base with a gross output of 200 billion yuan since Brilliance Auto and BMW
cooperated in joint venture 15 years ago,” said Qi Yumin, chairman of
Brilliance Auto.
BMW Brilliance
has created more than 18,000 local jobs and contributed taxes of over 24
billion yuan in 2017, Qi added.
The deal
came in as Brilliance Auto’s response to the national reform and opening up
campaign, and also as a great opportunity for the company to inspire vitality
by reforming across the board, Qi pointed out.
Car
industry is one of the earliest sectors that China open up to the world. China
allowed foreign car makers to build joint ventures alongside local entities with
an ownership restricted to 50 percent in 1994, making the country rise as the
world’s biggest car market packed up with nearly all transnational car makers
in 2009.
Till
last year, China has stayed as top player for ten consecutive years with over
28 million cars sold in 2018.
The new
round of opening up has brought Chinese car industry more opportunities for
cooperation and joint venture.
Last
April, Aisin Seiki, Japan’s auto component and system producer, signed joint
venture agreements on automatic gearbox with China’s FAW Group Corporation,
Geely Auto, and Trumpchi.
Two
months later, German automaker Volkswagen transferred its one percent share in
SAIC Volkswagen to another car maker giant Audi. Then in last July, BMW signed
a deal with Great Wall Motors to produce MINI electric vehicles in joint
venture.
A more
open car sector not only drives technological innovation and industrial
upgrading in home, but also propels other international companies to jump on
the bandwagon.
BMW
got the first license to have a road test of self-driving vehicles in
Shanghai, and also became the first transnational car company having license
for ride-sharing business in China last year.
Daimler
AG, German multinational automotive corporation, wasted no time to catch up and
got the road test license for driver-less cars in Beijing, after which the
company conducted cooperation with Baidu, Chinese tech giant, in auto driving
and the internet of vehicles.
Two
companies under Daimler AG and Geely Auto announced to establish a joint
venture providing ride-hailing mobility services on October 24, 2018, followed
by the cooperation between Volkswagen and Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi for offering
similar services on February 28 this year.
The
photo shows a Tesla Model 3 at a car exhibition in Beijing, April 25, 2018.
(Photo: People’s Daily Online)
China’s car market energized by opening up efforts
Reviewed by PEOPLES MAIL
on
12:34
Rating:
No comments: