Beijing urges public support for car project
Beijing officials have called on the public to buy the Sonata cars produced at a new joint venture factory in the north of the city, but analysts are sceptical it can achieve an ambitious target of 500,000 sales by 2010.
Xia Zhanyi, Communist Party chief of Xunyi county - where the factory is located, called on all citizens to support the project and help it reach the sales goal, more than 10 times the planned 45,000 target for this year, the Beijing Daily said.
Production of the Sonata began late last year, with 2,000 sold by the end of the year. Taxi companies bought 600, the Beijing city government 500 and the city police 300.
On January 20, output increased from 100 units from one shift to 200 from two shifts. Local content is expected to reach 40 per cent by March.
The joint venture - a 50-50 partnership between South Korea's Hyundai and Beijing Auto Industry, a unit of the city government - has opened four dealerships in Beijing and plans 80 nationwide by the end of this year.
'We are aiming for the market segment occupied by the Honda Accord, the Nissan Bluebird, the Volkswagen Passat and the Buick made by General Motors,' said Li Yong-ho, the joint venture's sales manager.
Li Guoqiang, a Beijing car industry specialist, said he was sceptical that the target could be reached.
'Total passenger car sales [on the mainland] last year were 1.1 million and most people expect double-digit growth in this sector over the next five years,' he said.
'But other manufacturers, foreign and domestic, plan higher output and there will also be an increase in the level of imports.
'In such a competitive market, it is hard to see Hyundai hitting half a million. It has arrived late in the market.
'The best strategy for Hyundai would be to use its relations with the government to become the only official car in Beijing, for the police, government departments and taxi firms.'
Some of the drivers behind the wheels of the capital's 66,000 taxis say that the Sonata will gradually become the only model used as a cab.
'Beijing will follow the example of Shanghai and Wuhan, which only use cabs manufactured in their own city,' said Wang Humei, who drives a Charade, made in Tianjin using a Daihatsu design.
'The Charades, Fukangs, Santanas and other models will be withdrawn from the road and replaced by Sonatas.
'The government will present this as part of upgrading the city for the 2008 Olympics.
'It will be bad for the public, which will have no choice of a cheaper taxi.'
The Sonata is one of the most successful South Korean cars, with global sales of 2.5 million in 15 years of production.
