Government mulls new consolidation policy

By Han Tianyang (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-24 06:53

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Done deals

In 2002, FAW Group bought a 50.98 percent stake of Shenzhen-listed Tianjin Xiali Co from its parent Tianjin Automotive Industry Corp.

Tianjin Automotive also transferred a 75 percent stake of another branch - Huali Automobile Co - to FAW.

At the end of 2007, SAIC, the top Chinese auto group, paid 2.1 billion yuan to acquire Nanjing Automobile's entire vehicle and core component manufacturing assets. Nanjing Automobile also injected all of its other components, services and trade assets into Donghua, its joint venture with SAIC.

Guangzhou Automobile, the country's sixth-biggest automaker, bought a 29 percent stake of Shanghai-listed SUV maker Changfeng Motor Co Ltd for 1 billion yuan in May last year.

In the same year, Chang'an, the fourth-largest motor group in China, acquired two minivan makers - Hafei and Changhe, as well as engine producer Dong'an - from Aviation Industry Corp of China, marking the biggest asset deal ever between State-owned auto companies. After the acquisition, Chang'an's 2009 sales were only 30,000 units behind Dongfeng, the country's third-largest auto group.

Those successful deals and continuing government insistence on accelerated consolidation set the groundwork for more mergers and acquisitions among automakers this year, according to analysts.

A recent report by China's Business News said Beijing Automobile, the nation's fifth-largest carmaker, is close to finalizing a deal to buy a 40 percent stake in Daimler AG's van joint venture with Fujian Motor Industry Corp.

Chinese carmaker enthusiasm for acquisitions also stretched overseas.

Geely signed a landmark agreement with Ford Motor to buy the latter's Swedish subsidiary Volvo at the end of last month, greatly raising the profile of Chinese automakers on the global stage.

Another move was Beijing Automobile's $200 million takeover of some core assets and technologies from Swedish carmaker Saab last year.

Rise in home brands

The central government also plans to amend its 2004 overall policy that governs the nation's auto industry.

According to sources with knowledge of the new policy, it intends that Chinese-brand passenger vehicles will comprise at least half of vehicle sales by 2015 and sedans made by entirely domestic automakers will have about 40 percent of the nation's car market.

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Statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that 4.58 million Chinese-brand passenger vehicles were sold last year, some 44.3 percent of the total. Sales of domestic sedans hit 2.22 million units, almost 30 percent of the segment.

In the first quarter this year, sales of Chinese-brand passenger vehicles reached 1.73 million units, comprising 49 percent of the total and up 5 percentage points compared with the proportion last year.

More than 790,000 domestic-brand sedans were sold between January and March, accounting for 33 percent of the segment and 3 percentage points more than last year.

Media reports say the new policy calls for 20 percent of overall sales by major auto groups to be generated overseas in the next few years.

Due to the financial crisis, China's vehicle exports fell sharply by 45.7 percent to 369,600 units last year, according to statistics from the General Administration of Customs.

As foreign markets began to recover, China's first quarter car shipments this year saw a rebound to about 105,000 units. In March alone, the exports surged 78 percent over the same period last year to 39,500 vehicles.

The government is also mulling a possible subsidy for new energy vehicles, with a related policy reported to be issued in July at the soonest.