Supply Chain Research

The Chinese government is expanding its “parallel-import” program for passenger cars. That will add capacity for independent retailers to import directly, offering prices that are 10% to 20% below official retailers. That can be seen against the broader policy of encouraging consumer goods imports, which may also lead to lower automotive tariffs generally. Chinese imports of passenger vehicles hit their highest in November since December 2014, while for 2017 as a whole growth was 15%. The independents have a long way to go, with the $49.7 billion market being dominated by official import...