China to Test Easing Curbs on Foreign Electric Vehicle Firms
- Foreign ownership limit on utility auto making to go
- Trial in China’s free trade zones to start by June 2018
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China’s government said it will carry out a trial by June that would allow foreign carmakers to set up wholly owned electric-vehicle businesses in its free-trade zones, taking the first step toward overhauling the country’s decades-old auto industry policy.
The plan, announced by China’s foreign ministry Thursday, will also permit overseas companies to set up factories on their own to make utility vehicles, without the need for a local partner mandated by current rules. Authorities will “gradually” lower vehicle import tariffs in an appropriate manner, according to the foreign ministry.