General Motors, the first foreign car maker to apply for vehicle financing in China, hopes to start lending to the world’s fastest growing car market in the second quarter of next year, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
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The news agency noted that GM applied last week to offer financing, saying it would team up with its long-standing Chinese partner, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC), to offer the loans.
“We expect within three months that we’ll get a reply on that,” Phil Murtaugh, chief executive of GM’s China operations, told Reuters in Beijing, adding: “Hopefully we’ll go into business in the second quarter of 2004.”
The proposed financing joint venture between GM and SAIC would be headquartered in Shanghai but could operate nationally through a network of field agents, Murtaugh told the news agency, adding: “The fact the regulations do not allow branch offices is something we wish were otherwise, but it’s something that will not affect our ability to do nationwide business.”
Reuters said that China finally issued detailed vehicle finance rules in October, more than a year later than promised, laying ground rules that ensure that only the biggest players can participate.
