Are Joint Venture Cars Considered Domestic Cars?
2 Answers
Joint venture cars are not considered domestic cars. Domestic cars refer to vehicles designed by Chinese people, manufactured by Chinese people, with independent intellectual property rights and Chinese brands. On the other hand, joint venture cars are projects jointly established by Chinese and foreign investors. However, the core technologies are still controlled by foreign parties. Below is additional information: 1. Joint venture cars are expensive due to intellectual property issues. The cooperation dependence established by foreign automobile manufacturers is very low. What Chinese manufacturers learn from foreign automobile manufacturers is mostly assembly technology, corporate culture, internal management, etc. However, the core technologies of automobile engines and transmissions that truly need to be understood are often imported from abroad. The technologies sold to China are generally 10 to 20 years behind. 2. Taking ABS as an example, European and American automobile manufacturers were already developing and applying it in the late 1970s and vigorously promoted it in the market in the 1980s. The first Chinese model to use ABS was the Santana 2000. Because of this, the core technologies are in the hands of foreign companies, and the high cost of purchasing these technologies or finished products results in the higher price of joint venture cars.
Seeing the question of whether joint-venture cars count as domestically produced, I recalled my own car-buying experience. Generally, people think joint-venture cars should be considered domestic since they're manufactured in China—for example, the Toyota Corolla I saw last time at the 4S dealership was made by GAC Toyota, with local workers and equipment, and the production process largely completed domestically. However, since the brand is foreign, some people hesitate, believing 'domestic' only refers to self-owned brands like Geely. But in reality, from an economic perspective, joint-venture cars boost local employment and supply chain development, with many parts sourced or assembled in China. Government policies also encourage such collaborations as localized production. I remember China's auto market saw rapid growth in recent years, largely due to joint ventures introducing technology and helping domestic factories improve capabilities. Now, domestic brands like Great Wall or BYD have also benefited. So overall, joint-venture cars should be categorized as domestic, just with different brand attributes. This matters for consumer choice too—for instance, when buying a car to support domestic products, joint-venture cars also contribute to the local economy.
