AUTO INDUSTRY
Global car makers race to show off in Beijing as China prepares to ease trade limits
Beijing — Global car makers will show off their latest models at the Beijing Auto Show this week, days after China unveiled plans to shift gears in the world’s biggest car market by lifting foreign ownership restrictions. Manufacturers Volkswagen, Daimler, Toyota, Nissan and Ford will be among the companies seeking the limelight in a country where 28.9-million vehicles were sold in 2017, a 3% increase from 2016. Though sales lost steam compared with the previous year, foreign car makers are still eager to win bigger slices of a huge market as they face increasing competition from domestic companies investing in electric and self-driving vehicles. The Beijing Auto Show is a chance to display new models to Chinese car enthusiasts. The event "is becoming the largest in the industry, no one can ignore China", said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director of the Centre for Automotive Research in Germany. The 2018 show could be dominated by "political" topics, he said. The spectre of a trade war ...
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