SHANGHAI : August 4, 23009 - Brilliance have been working with BMW for the past six years, and are apparently seeking a second JV partner. Their latest partner is expected to be Mercedes Benz, another luxury German marque. Mercedes-Benz already has a JV with Beijing Auto Works, but is expected to be looking for a new partner to expand its operations in the Chinese market place. Brilliance vice Chairman, Mr. Qi Yu Min revealed during an interview that Mercedes and Brilliance may go into the MPV producing business, and have already set themselves a sales target of 40,000 vehicles per year.
The new JV is expected to follow four different types of cars, a mixture of ’special cars’ which could mean anything from business use MPV’s to ambulances. Although the market is expected to be small, with sales of only around 10,000 vehicles in the first year, but it seems that Brilliance are confident about the market enough to want to invest in a new JV.
According to the Chinese laws, a foreign enterprise in China cannot have more than two joint ventures within China, currently Mercedes-Benz has joint ventures with Beijing Auto and also Fujian Auto. Daimler also had a joint venture with Jiangsu Star Coaches, but they have since parted company with them.
The BMW JV is not expected to be effected by the new JV, as the two are focused on different product lines. The BMW JV is currently expanding to bring its annual production up to 75,000 vehicles.
Brilliance is expected to build four factories which will be spread around China, these will be Tie Ling (Liao Ning Province), Shanghai, and then one in both Northern and Southern China. The Shanghai factory is reportedly even in operation, but the scope of the factory is rather small. The Liao Ning Tie Ling factory is under negotiation, and the two new north/south factories are still top secret.
[Source : China Car Times]
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