Carmakers face fresh China import threat, from ft.com.
Multinational carmakers already under pressure from Chinese regulators and dealers face a new challenge in the world’s largest auto market — increased competition from unauthorised “parallel imports” of their own vehicles from the US.
New rules from Shanghai’s fledgling free trade zone, issued last week, formally legalise the sale of cars that manufacturers originally intended to sell in the US and other markets — allowing buyers in the city to bag discounts of about 20 per cent.
This follows quiet moves by Beijing last August to allow parallel imports in other cities such as Tianjin, as part of a larger effort to lower the high cost of many goods and services in China.
