BEIJING: BMW said on Tuesday it wanted to support the restructuring of Huachen Group, parent of the German premium automaker’s Chinese joint venture partner Brilliance China Automotive.
BMW said in a statement to Reuters that it also wanted to use Huachen’s existing car manufacturing capacity. Huachen is based in China’s northeastern city of Shenyang in Liaoning province.
“To BMW, Liaoning province and the city of Shenyang have become the crucial innovation and production base in China, and the cornerstone of our future success in China,” BMW said, it did not offer details of how it plans to participate in Huachen’s restructuring.
BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) is BMW’s main business in China and key to its global sales. BMW said in 2018 that it would pay 3.6 billion euros ($4.2 billion) in 2022 for a further 25% stake in BBA.
Huachen has defaulted on billions of yuan in debt obligations. Chinese regulators have launched an investigation into possible violations of disclosure laws by the company.
BMW separately operates a joint venture for electric vehicles with Great Wall Motor.
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The business, which is active in hydrogen technology and other areas, could fetch a valuation of up to 1 billion Swiss francs ($1.1 billion), they said.
The acquired business includes a manufacturing site in China’s northern city of Taiyuan. Volvo said it aimed to start production of its new heavy duty Volvo FH, Volvo FM and Volvo FMX trucks there at the end of next year.