BAIC Seeks New Partner Outside China

Even if it failed to convince GM Europe and Germany to hand it over the Opel ownership, BAIC is still seeking for an international partner outside China, a company official said a few days ago. Additionally, the Chinese manufacturer said it is still interested in talking with General Motors on the intellectual property issues that blocked the deal.

"Based in China's capital city of Beijing, where there's an excellent business environment and a rich source of talent, and by taking advantage ofitsfully integrated infrastructure and industry resources, BAIC is well prepared to continue to expand its presence in China and world auto market," Xu Heyi, President of Beijing Automotive Industry Corp. (BAIC), was quoted as saying by gasgoo.com.

But BAIC is also focused on its domestic operations and is now aiming to sell up to 3 million cars totaling 300 billion yuan ($44 billion) in revenues in 2015. To give you an idea, the Chinese manufacturer sold no less than 580,000 units in the first half of the year, up 28 percent for the previous year.

Getting back to the Opel takeover negotiations, BAIC yesterday said that talks should continue with General Motors as the company has became a bit more experienced since they started discussing on the acquisition.

"We still believe that Beijing Auto is a very good partner for GM's development in China and we remain willing to take discussions on IPR arrangements a step further," Xu said. "GM was worried that after we acquired Opel and obtained its intellectual property rights, we would impact their interests in China and its relationships with its existing partners."