BMW eyes electric vehicle joint venture in China

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China’s automaker Great Wall Motor Co halted its H-share trading on Thursday amidst media reports hinting at its joint venture with German luxury automaker BMW to make electric vehicles in the world's largest auto market.

The trading halt is pending release of an announcement about “clarification of press articles,” Great Wall filed to Hong Kong Exchanges.

Great Wall’s Hong Kong-listed shares rose 20 percent on the news of possible joint venture on Wednesday.

A venture with Great Wall would be BMW’s second in the world’s largest auto market, where foreign carmakers have to team up with local partners.

"We are in discussions with Great Wall about setting up a joint venture to produce cars in Changshu," said a BMW executive, who was not authorized to speak on the matter and declined to be identified.

Another person familiar with the matter said the new joint venture in the eastern city of Changshu would not deal with gasoline or diesel powered cars, indicating a focus on electric vehicles was likely.

BMW’s China sales grew 11.3 percent last year. It is the country’s second-largest premium brand after Volkswagen’s Audi AG. BMW is trying to stay ahead of third-place Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz, which recorded a 26.6 percent growth in China sales in 2016 thanks to a fresher model lineup.

File: A Great Wall Motors Haval hybrid vehicle is presented during the Auto China 2016 auto show in Beijing, China, April 29, 2016. /Reuters Photo

Car manufacturers have recently announced a raft of investments and tie-ups in China.

Tesla, Ford, Daimler, and General Motors are among those that have already announced plans for making electric vehicles in China.

Electric Mini?

BMW and rival Mercedes are betting they can mass produce new electric cars based on conventional vehicle design, defying skeptics who say they will need more radical plans to head off the threat from Tesla and other start-ups.

Bernstein analysts said they believed that any new venture of BMW and Great Wall would have to sell exclusively electric vehicles (EVs), given China’s moratorium on approvals for new gasoline car businesses.

"If an agreement were to be reached, we’d expect an arrangement like Denza (Mercedes-BYD), or VW-JAC, Ford-Zotye to be the most plausible outcome, whereby a new brand is used to sell EVs," they said in a note, adding that the vehicles could be sold under the Mini brand.

File: A Great Wall Motors Haval HB-02 concept vehicle is presented during the Auto China 2016 auto show in Beijing, China, April 29, 2016. /Reuters Photo

China wants electric and hybrid cars to make up at least a fifth of the country’s auto sales by 2025 and plans to loosen joint-venture regulations to achieve its aim.

BMW already has a joint venture in China with local carmaker Brilliance China Automotive Holdings and makes cars at two plants in Shenyang.

Brokerage Jefferies said in a note that it was "understandable that BMW needs a new partner to defend its market share in a more competitive market", and expected that the move would hit current partner Brilliance.

"Our business development with the joint venture BMW Brilliance Automotive will continue as planned, and we will carry on to invest and develop our joint venture." a spokesman for BMW said, declining to comment on any new joint venture.

The plans were first reported by Shanghai-based www.iautodaily.com earlier on Wednesday.

"I don’t know how far along we have gone nailing this deal," or whether the two companies have official central government approval for the venture, the BMW executive said.

File: Visitors pass by a booth with long wheelbase BMW X1 xDrive25Li displayed during Auto China 2016 auto show in Beijing, China, April 25, 2016. /Reuters Photo

Great Wall, which in August expressed an interest in the Jeep brand of Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV‘s, is one of China’s largest car makers.

Last month it struck a deal to secure supplies of lithium, a mineral key for developing electric vehicles.

China’s most of the mainstream automakers have several joint auto brands with foreign car manufacturers, but Great Wall has been an exception without any joint venture so far.

Even without support from any global brands, Great Wall has been one of the leading SUV sellers in the world’s largest auto market.

Great Wall sold 705,506 vehicles in the first nine months this year, up 2.25 percent year-on-year, with SUV sales in the period reaching 612,651 with 3.78 percent year-on-year growth, according to data the company released on Tuesday.

Source(s): Reuters