China Buyout Watch: Let The Chrysler Speculations Begin, Again

It got a little quiet recently about Chinese automakers ogling American automakers-in-distress. London’s Financial Times (sub) decided it’s time to rekindle the flames. “China is the world’s second-largest car market,” the pink sheet writes today, “and rumors swirl ceaselessly about a Chinese carmaker buying Chrysler or General Motors. It is a remarkable transformation and one that cannot be halted, even by the global economic recession.” After waxing prose about the end of the “stratospheric double-digit growth of recent years,” and snidely remarking that “industry analysts are still expecting high single-digit growth for 2008 and possibly 2009 as well. Much of the rest of the global car industry would be happy to see such numbers,” the FT gets right to the point:

“No one expects the Chinese government to step in with a Washington-style bail-out, but last month Chery announced that it had arranged RMB10b ($1.46b) in financing from China’s Export Import Bank to fund overseas activities, and then immediately said it was calling off a small-car partnership with Chrysler – fueling speculation that Chery’s real intent was to buy the troubled US carmaker.”

Of course, the FT quickly pours a little water on their own fire – just enough to work up some steam – by trotting out “Yale Zhang, Shanghai-based analyst at CSM, the automotive consultancy,” who “thinks that is unlikely.”

So then, if it’s unlikely, and if there is no new information, why print the story at all? And why did Gasgoo, which is 60 percent owned by Chery, choose to reprint the story without a single comment? One explanation is that it’s a slow news day. Another explanation:

While Chrysler was begging for bailout bucks, even Autobloggreen had to concede: “Not a good combo: Chery, Chrysler and the Congressional bailout.” But now, as DC is dragging out forking over the money, maybe someone thinks it’s opportune to point out that there might still be another suitor lurking in China. Or maybe there is.