China’s first foreign-owned car dealer to open
January 24, 2005
China’s 1st Foreign-Owned Car Dealer To Open
BEIJING (Dow Jones) — Hong Kong-based auto dealer Triangle Motors will become the first wholly overseas invested company to sell vehicles on the mainland when it opens a dealership in Guangzhou, China Daily reports.
The company plans to sell imported Isuzu Motors Ltd. (7202.TO) brand vehicles, the newspaper reports. The new Triangle venture in southern China has registered capital of CNY30 million, the report says.
The Closer Economic Partnership Agreement between Beijing and Hong Kong provides companies from the special administrative region with greater market access to the mainland than provided to other World Trade Organization members.
Before CEPA, only companies with domestic investors or foreign joint ventures with local partners could operate automobile retail businesses in mainland China.
Applicants must have annual sales of at least US$100 million in the three years before their application, assets of at least US$10 million in the year they apply, and at least CNY10 million of registered capital in the new venture, or CNY6 million for central and western China, the newspaper reports.
