China will allow selected dealers registered in Shanghai’s free trade zone to import and sell cars without the consent of foreign carmakers, according to an official notice.
Analysts say the move could weaken carmakers’ control over prices although foreign luxury carmakers, including Daimler, BMW and Audi, have previously said the practice would have little impact on their businesses in China.
Beijing Hyundai, a 50-50 joint venture between Hyundai and Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., will begin building its fourth and fifth plants in China next year to respond to surging demands in the world’s largest automobile market. Each plant will eventually have annual production capacity of 300,000 units; the new plants will increase Beijing Hyundai Motor Co.’s capacity to 1.65 million units per year.
Auto sales in China, the world’s biggest car market, expanded 2.3 percent year-on-year in November, an industry group said Wednesday, the slowest for any month this year.
By YURI KAGEYAMA
Toyota is recalling 185,000 vehicles in Japan and 5,000 in China for a possibly defective air bag supplied by Takata, the Japanese manufacturer at the center of an unfolding safety scandal.
By Mari Saito and Chang-Ran Kim
Toyota said on Thursday it would call back 190,000 more vehicles to replace potentially defective air bags made by Takata Corp, and Japan’s regulator said it may change its recall system to better respond to what it called an “unprecedented” crisis.
