China Announces Government Vehicles Will Be Domestic Only
The Audi A6L (pictured above) was specifically designed and manufactured for the Chinese market. It has become extremely popular with high-placed government workers and business owners. But now, the Chinese government is putting their foot down, saying that all government vehicles will be Chinese, potentially putting a hit out on the A6L’s sales.
This is the first time in China’s recent history that vehicles purchased by state and local governments must be domestic. The list of 412 cars was released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Chinese believe it’s just part of the natural evolution of their growing auto industry.
“Most countries use official cars as a way to showcase the domestic auto industry, so we see this as a natural progression of the development of China’s automotive industry,” said a report published by Macquarie Group Ltd.
It’s clear that the Chinese are going to go out of their way to protect their domestically built vehicles, especially since they recently announced heavy duties on US imported vehicles. Whether or not these measures are too extreme remains to be seen, but clearly China wants to ensure that their local automakers can somehow survive against the more experienced manufacturing techniques from established automakers in America, Europe, and Japan.
[Source: Bloomberg]
Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.
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