Is the Bestune T99 a joint venture car?
3 Answers
Bestune T99 is a domestic car, not a joint venture car. Definition of joint venture car: A project jointly established by Chinese and foreign investors. The Chinese side contributes by providing land and factory usage rights, and capital; the foreign investor provides the brand, technology, capital, talent, etc. Joint venture cars are the product of such cooperation. The foreign side provides technology, talent, brand, etc., for assembly in China, but the core technology is still controlled by the foreign side. Reasons why joint venture cars are expensive: Insufficient domestic production capacity, issues with intellectual property rights, and core technology mainly dependent on foreign sources. This results in higher prices for joint venture cars.
I've researched the Bestune T99, which is an independent brand under China's FAW Group. While FAW does have joint ventures with foreign brands, the Bestune brand is entirely domestically developed. The T99 was fully designed, developed, and manufactured in China using independent technological platforms. When it comes to joint venture vehicles, models like Volkswagen and Toyota that involve Sino-foreign cooperation would qualify. Since its establishment, the Bestune brand has consistently followed an independent development path. As a flagship SUV, the T99 offers quite decent configurations with good space and intelligent features. Domestic vehicles have made rapid progress these days, so there's no need to insist on pursuing joint venture labels.
I've encountered this issue several times - the Bestune T99 can indeed be easily misunderstood. In fact, it's purely a domestic brand, FAW's own 'biological son'. Although the group has joint venture partners like FAW-Volkswagen, the Bestune brand is positioned as independent. The T99 is produced at the Changchun factory, with both engine and transmission being proprietary technologies, even the chassis tuning was done by a domestic team. Nowadays some cars with English names get mistaken for joint ventures, but that's not the case. The Bestune T99 offers great value for money - its three major components meet quality standards, and my friend who drove it felt it's fully comparable to joint venture SUVs in the same price range.
