Chinese Government Denies Subaru Joint Venture. Again?

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Just-Auto issued a breathless press release with the hot news that the nasty Chinese government has said no to a joint venture between Japan’s Subaru and China’s Chery. If this sounds like deja vu to you, then you are an ace analyst. Send your CV to just-auto.

The story is ancient news. Last October, Fuji Heavy was told its application was denied because Subaru “is an affiliate of Toyota Motor Corp.” Toyota already has two joint ventures in China, and a company can’t have more. The argument sounded a bit belabored. However, two months later, the Chinese government issued an edict that discouraged new joint ventures between Chinese and foreign carmakers in a market that battles with overcapacity: “Sorry, we are closed!”

Just-auto fell victim to a press release by Subaru, which announced slight adjustments to Fuji Heavy’s “Motion-V” 5 year business plan. One of the changes is a belated realization that “it seems difficult to establish local production in China.” Therefore, “FHI will make a shift from local production scheme to car export scheme.” Except that there never was a local production scheme. Subaru will continue importing cars to China. Good luck with that.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Look hard enough and you'll see a car in that picture!

  • Astigmatism Astigmatism on May 10, 2012

    Well, the Chinese government is still nasty. It's just that they've always been that way.

  • Multicam Multicam on May 10, 2012

    ...does she come with the car?

  • Daveainchina Daveainchina on May 10, 2012

    This is something that Subaru could play to their advantage. While they won't have VW/Buick level sales I feel fairly confident they can increase their market share regardless of the import tax. Too many Chinese don't trust anything made in China even from JV etc. Many Chinese people have a perception that anything made in China is poor quality and everything in other countries is better. (I think the idea funny but they believe it so ehh whatever) A smart marketing campaign here in China could take advantage of this sentiment and help boost their sales. The one problem they have is that many Chinese feel that companies ship to China their rejects.. ie lower quality items. So they will have to overcome that problem which compared to the perception of things made in China should be easy.

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