Daimler eyes auto financing
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-12-10 13:53

DaimlerChrysler Services, the auto financing unit of DaimlerChrysler AG, had won initial approval to establish auto financing operations in China, the world’s fourth-largest automobile market, the U.S.-German giant said Wednesday.

The nod from the China Banking Regulatory Commission “is the first step in establishing vehicle financing in China, which the company expects to be operational in the fall of 2005,” DaimlerChrysler said in a statement.

It would be the fifth such venture in China after General Motors, Volkswagen AG, Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. won approval.

“The approval is a milestone for DaimlerChrysler as it signifies that now all of the group’s business units will be present here (in China) — Mercedes Car Group, Chrysler Group, Commercial Vehicle Division and DaimlerChrysler Services,” said Bodo Uebber, CEO of the auto financing arm.

Earlier this week, the company said it expected its vehicle sales in China to drop about 15 percent short of its goal for 2004 amid a sharp slowdown in the sector’s growth.

It expected to sell 50,000 units in the country this year, 9,000 less than its previous target made in September, said Rudiger Grube, chairman of its China executive board.

Vehicle sales rose 18 percent to 4.13 million units in the first 10 months, compared with a 76 percent surge last year and 50 percent in 2002.

China issued rules allowing overseas non-bank institutions to set up vehicle financing last October to fulfill its WTO pledges.

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