|
The Chinese government has stopped importing cars made by Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors alleging violations of monopoly and oligopoly laws. According to the automobile industry on Wednesday, the Chinese government accepted a complaint by an association of the Chinese automobile dealers and stopped issuing import licenses for Hyundai and Kia cars. The Chinese dealers argued that the two carmakers forcefully allocated excessive quotas for dealers.
¡°Export has not been completely halted as we still have import licenses we got in August,¡± a Hyundai-Kia spokesman said. The decision only applies to cars manufactured in Korea and exported to China, not those made by local subsidiaries in China. From January to September this year, Hyundai produced 219,000 cars in its Chinese plant and Kia 105,000.
If the companies fail to win more import licenses, it will affect sales of luxury sedans, all of which are produced in Korea. Hyundai and Kia export about 1,500 and 800 cars per month, and losses would be about W50 billion (US$1=W1,240) a month.
¡°The move by the Chinese government comes under monopoly and oligopoly laws that began to be fully enforced from July this year,¡± an industry insider said. ¡°The aim is to protect China¡¯s own industry and to tame major foreign carmakers doing business in China.¡±
Hyundai Motor expects the ban to be lifted within one or two months since it will badly affect Chinese Hyundai and Kia dealers. In June, China banned imports of Toyota¡¯s Lexus luxury line, but imports resumed within two months.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
