In October 2003, the first China-made BMW 325i sedan rolled off a new production line owned by the German luxury brand and its joint venture partner, Brilliance, a subsidiary of provincially owned automaker Huachen Group.

It was a milestone for the iconic Bavarian marque, whose cars proved massively popular in what became the world’s largest market. Over the next nearly two decades, the joint venture was a cash cow for both BMW and Huachen, which is run by the government of the northeastern rust-belt province of Liaoning.

But this month, Huachen stands on the brink of bankruptcy, defaulting on 6.5 billion yuan ($987.48 million) in debt obligations. Chinese regulators have launched an investigation into possible violations of disclosure laws by the company.

The defaults by Huachen and two other Chinese state-owned companies have angered investors, who say their faith in the firms’ top-notch ratings, seemingly sound finances, and implicit state backing has been violated.

An examination of dozens of bond filings as well as interviews with former Huachen employees and experts shows how the carmaker squandered its advantage of having a gold-plated partner and was unable to leverage its know-how to develop competitive cars of its own. Some strategic missteps on the choice of models hurt it badly and an expansion into electric vehicles, funded by debt, came too late.

Chinese rivals such as Geely and Great Wall developed stronger products and technology, while state-backed SAIC Motor and Guangzhou Automobile grew with the know-how of joint venture partners.

Huachen, by comparison, used a scattershot approach to planning, with vehicles such as a mid-size sedan and compact SUV that were not complementary, said Yale Zhang, head of consultancy AutoForesight.

“Zhonghua did not plan its products systematically,” he said. “That made their products fail to meet the fast-changing market demand in China.”

Source: REUTERS

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The products of the world-famous car manufacturer BMW have entered the Nepali market through the official sellers. Lakshmi Premium under Lakshmi Group has brought it to Nepal.

Although the company has brought BMW vehicles to Nepal with the aim of starting official sales from May, it has been delayed due to the recent lockdown caused by COVID 19.

He said that the company has brought only one unit of BMW Seven series while other models have brought BMW X1, X2, and X3 models.

BMW Seven Series '740 LE XDrive' Features and Price in Nepal

The BMW Seven Series '740 LE XDrive' model brought to Nepal. It provides plugin hybrid technology. This car is a flagship sedan car with an 8-speed automatic gearbox connection. Its potential value in Nepal is estimated to be around 40 million.

It can run 40 kilometers on a single full charge and has a fuel tank with a capacity of 46 liters. The power of the vehicle is 322 horsepower.

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An aggressive China-led shift to electric vehicles (EVs) is expected to slash global oil demand growth by 70 percent by 2030 and will help bring an end to the “oil era”, according to research by the Carbon Tracker think tank published on Friday.

Within 10 years, China could save more than $80 billion in annual oil import costs as new-energy vehicles (NEVs) become increasingly competitive, Carbon Tracker said.

Its calculations were based on a “conservative” scenario by the International Energy Agency projecting that EVs would account for 40 percent of China’s total car sales by 2030, and for 20 percent of sales in India and other emerging markets.

Also read: Heat is now on EV makers, after battery fires 

The cost of importing the oil required to fuel an average car is 10 times higher than the cost of solar equipment required to power an electric vehicle, Carbon Tracker said.

“This is a simple choice between growing dependency on what has been expensive oil produced by a foreign cartel, or domestic electricity produced by renewable sources whose prices fall over time,” said Kingsmill Bond, a strategist with Carbon Tracker and the report’s lead author.

EVs are a key component of China’s efforts to slash climate-warming greenhouse gases and improve urban air quality, and India is also setting ambitious 2030 vehicle sales targets.

China has not yet set a date when it will ban the production and sale of traditional cars, but an industry official said last month that NEVs will account for 50 percent of all new car sales by 2035, with hybrid vehicles making up the remainder.

Source: Reuters Shanghai

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Apple has asked Foxconn to move some iPad and MacBook manufacturing capacity to Vietnam, Reuters reports. The assembly lines are set to start production in the first half of next year at Foxconn’s Bac Giang province, according to Reuters’ source, who notes that Apple wants to diversify its supply chain due to the ongoing trade disputes between the US and China.

Reuters’ report doesn’t state which iPad or Mac models will be assembled in Vietnam, nor what proportion of Apple’s total production will shift out of China. But these wouldn’t be the first Apple products to be assembled in Vietnam — Apple started producing AirPods Pro units there earlier this year. Apple has also used India for the production of certain iPhone models for a while, although that mostly predates the US-China trade war and helps the company meet local import regulations.

Nikkei reported earlier this week that Foxconn is planning a $270 million investment in Vietnam to expand its manufacturing capacity. The Taiwanese company is said to be moving more than 30 percent of its production lines outside China.

Source: theverge

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