Mercedes-Benz
will consider producing passenger cars in the mainland after China joins the World
Trade Organisation, says the South China Morning Post.
There are 60,000 legally imported Mercedes on the road in China, with 50,000
more in the former British territory of Hong Kong.
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But an unknown number have been smuggled in, the newspaper added.
In an interview published in the Beijing Youth Daily, Mercedes’ chief China
representative Karl-Heinz Michel said his company had been conducting detailed
research on producing passenger cars in China since 1999.
"This year we will continue this research. According to China’s accession
to WTO and the results of our research, we will decide the marketing strategy.
If China joins WTO, we will consider producing passenger cars and change our
strategy," he said.
Since it entered the market in 1993, the company has set up 23 service centres
for its passenger cars in China and plans to expand this to 30 next year.
"Most of our customers in China are institutions or companies. With restrictions
on government spending, our sales are limited. But for major events, like the
return of Hong Kong and Macau and the Apec meeting in Shanghai, the government
bought at least 100 to receive guests," he said.
The Morning Post said that the government has ordered officials to use Chinese-made
cars, with senior officials using the Audi, a car made at a joint venture in
the northeastern city of Changchun with German company Volkswagen.
Mr Michel said that after China’s accession to the WTO access to the market
would improve, which would stimulate his firm’s marketing activities and increase
the level of co-operation with Chinese firms.
DaimlerChrysler, of which Mercedes-Benz is a part, is already involved in producing
commercial vehicles at joint ventures in Yangzhou, Baotou and Anhui, and is
restructuring a joint venture in Beijing that produces jeeps, including Chrysler’s
Cherokee.
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