Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC) has sold its 20% stake in Chery, a Chinese manufacturer accused of pirating car designs from a unit of General Motors, according to a report in the Financial Times.
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The FT report cites as source GM executives.
Those executives said SAIC sold the stake in July or August of this year, the FT said. A spokesman for SAIC denied the sale had taken place, the FT said.
SAIC-Chery Automobile Co gave the 20 percent stake to Shanghai Automotive, an equal partner in China ventures with General Motors and Volkswagen (SVW) for free in 2001 in return for the right to use its brand and technology.
“Shanghai Automotive has given up, not sold, the stake in Chery,” one industry source told Reuters on Thursday.
Reuters reported that General Motors began investigating media allegations earlier this year concerning the new “QQ” minicar sold in China by Chery. The QQ is said to bear a striking resemblance to a GM mini-car called the Matiz, also produced by Daewoo. GM has just started producing its version of the Matiz in China, rebranded as the Chevrolet Spark.
Chery, which has denied copying any GM product, has a history of copyright controversy. Last year, Volkswagen said parts produced by the German company had been used illegally in one of Chery’s cars. The resolution of that dispute involved the local manufacture of the parts concerned – in effect copies without VW branding.
