Restrictions on foreign ownership in passenger car manufacturing will be officially abolished from January 1, 2022

On December 27, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce issued Order No. 47 and Order No. 48, respectively, issuing the Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) (2021 Edition) and the Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access in Pilot Free Trade Zones (Negative List) (2021 Edition), which will come into effect on January 1, 2022. The Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) (2020 Edition) and the Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access in Pilot Free Trade Zones (Negative List) (2020 Edition) shall be abolished at the same time.

In the field of automobile manufacturing, the restriction on foreign ownership in passenger car manufacturing and the restriction that the same foreign company can establish two or fewer joint ventures in China to produce similar vehicle products are abolished.

The 2021 version of the negative list of foreign investment access in the national and pilot free trade zones was further reduced to 31 and 27 articles, with the proportion of reductions being 6.1% and 10% respectively.

As early as 2018, the state said that it would further implement the opening requirements of automobile, shipbuilding, aircraft and other industries on the basis of the basic opening up of the manufacturing industry, and relax the restrictions on foreign ownership, especially in the automotive industry. In 2018, the foreign ownership restrictions on special vehicles and new energy vehicles will be abolished, the foreign ownership restrictions on commercial vehicles will be abolished in 2020, the foreign ownership restrictions on passenger cars will be abolished in 2022, and the restriction on setting up no more than 2 joint ventures in China will be abolished.