TOKYO - FUJI Heavy Industries, Japan's smallest carmaker, said on Tuesday it was in talks with China's privately held Chery Automobile Co to build Subaru cars in the world's biggest car market.
The two companies are in the final stages of talks to spend about 30 billion yen (S$473 million) to construct a factory in the northern city of Dalian, initially building 50,000 mid-sized vehicles a year from 2013 and eventually raising that to 150,000, the Nikkei business daily reported earlier.
A Fuji Heavy spokesman confirmed that it was in talks with Chery, but added that it was also in discussions with several other Chinese carmakers over local production of its Subaru cars.
No one at Chery could immediately be reached for comment.
Fuji Heavy is among the last automakers in the world to enter China with local production. Its car sales in China have grown rapidly but are limited to around 57,000 this year in the 17-million-unit market partly due to steep import tariffs.
Fuji Heavy CEO Ikuo Mori told Reuters this month he wanted to reach a decision on how to produce cars in China by the end of the financial year in March, moving back a previous target of the end of 2010. Fuji Heavy has said a joint venture factory and technical licensing to a local automaker were both possibilities, although Mr Mori said he preferred a joint venture arrangement. -- REUTERS
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