外
国汽车厂商也加入了企业界对中国产业政策的一波批评大潮，他们担心中国政府发展电动汽车的计划可能迫使福特(Ford Motor Co.)和丰田(Toyota Motor Corp.)一类的生产商与中国公司分享先进技术，以换取获准进入中国规模巨大的市场。
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比亚迪打算今年在中国和美国发售这款E6轿车。
上述管理人员说，从计划草案看，中国政府可能会迫使想在中国生产电动汽车的外国厂商与中方分享其关键技术，具体做法是要求这些公司与中国公司成立合资企业，而他们只能在合资企业中占有少数股权。
在此之前，西门子(Siemens AG)、通用电气(General Electric Co.)和微软(Microsoft Corp.)等外国公司已对中国的商业环境发出了越来越高的批评之声。外国管理人员和政府官员纷纷抱怨中国的本土创新政策，外国公司担心该政策有意歧视他们，或将迫使他们向中方转让知识产权。
中国电动汽车计划的目标是，到2020年让三到五家中国公司发展成为在全球具有竞争力的全电动汽车或插电式混合动力车生产商，并发展两到三家能提供高性能电池和电动机等电动汽车重要零部件的全球性供应商。
上述外国汽车厂商管理人员中的两位说，该计划呼吁在充电站和其他基础设施等电动汽车相关领域投资人民币1,000亿元（合150亿美元）之多。尚不清楚该数字是否包括除政府投入之外的企业投资。
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一辆丰田普瑞斯正在充电。
另一家全球汽车制造商的资深技术管理人员说，该计划毫不必要地为我们在中国生产电动汽车的计划增加了障碍。他说，中国即将在2020年前成为电动汽车和插电式混合动力车的主要市场，在中国本地生产电动汽车是不可避免的；但是这项即将实施的新政策将给这一进程增添不必要的麻烦，使之变得复杂。汽车行业管理人员说，运输成本和关税使得从其他地方将汽车出口到中国销售过于昂贵。
技术转让条款有可能在计划最后敲定前进行修改或相应减调。据外国汽车厂商的管理人员说，工信部最近将计划草案下发给其他政府机构及部分国有汽车制造商，听取他们的意见，如果未出现重大反对意见，该计划可能在下个月就将实施，不过这些管理人员认为不大可能这么快就实施这项计划。
工信部新闻发言人王立建说，工信部负责该计划草案的产业政策制定者暂时无法置评。
中国政府说对中国投资环境的担忧是没有事实根据的。温家宝总理于本周在中国召开的世界经济论坛（World Economic Forum）夏季年会上对全球商界领袖们说，中国致力于为外商投资企业创造一个开放和公平的环境，外商投资企业在中国总体运营情况良好，取得丰厚回报。
对电动车政策的忧虑已使得至少一家公司推迟了其新能源汽车在中国的发布。丰田驻中国高管表示，丰田本计划于3月份向中国市场推出Prius最新款油电混合动力车──这款车2009年5月以来就在美国和日本上市销售，但是该计划目前已被推迟，在中国有关新能源汽车的产业政策更加明朗之前不会执行该计划。
今年将超过日本成为世界第二大经济体的中国，其本身已是全球最大的汽车市场，不过中国尚未诞生出一家堪称世界级规模的汽车生产商。中国政府把电动车的兴起视作中国汽车制造业跻身世界前列的良机。
重庆国有企业长安汽车(Chang'an Automobile Co.)的总裁张宝林说，未来数十年，中国将从汽车技术的追随者变为领导者，我们将在新能源汽车领域拥有很多机遇。
工信部预测，到2020年中国上路的电池驱动汽车和插电式混合动力车的数量将达到500万辆，中国汽车制造商在国内的油电混合动力车年产销能力将达到300万辆。一位外资汽车制造商的高管说，中国制定的计划雄心勃勃，不过能否真正实现这些目标尚存在争议。
中国的电动汽车发展计划还将收紧在燃油经济性方面的规定，以降低中国对汽油的依赖并降低污染。
按照中国的计划，外国汽车制造商若决定在中国生产先进的锂离子电池和马力强大的电动机，需与中国公司合资建厂。外商高管说，外资在这些合资企业的最高持股比例为49%，因此他们的中方合资伙伴握有合资企业的实际控制权。
这些高管说，去年中国工信部针对外国汽车制造商出台了一条规定，要求拟在中国生产电动车的外商在电池、电动机和电动车控制系统这三大核心技术上，需挑选其一使用中国知识产权。
其中一位高管表示，工信部的这条规定是说，如果外商想在中国生产电动车，就得或是从中国现有供应商那里获得三项核心技术之中的一项，或是自己在中国开发这一技术，或是将技术授权给一家在中国的公司，这引起了对技术外泄的忧虑。这些高管说，他们担心与中国伙伴签订的合作协议可能不足以保护外商的知识产权。
这位高级技术主管说，我们要确保能有一纸合同或协议，保证我们可以继续拥有并控制自己的核心技术，哪怕我们在合资公司里可能就是个小股东。
目前生产汽油动力汽车的合资企业其外资持股比例上限是50%。那位技术高管说，他所在的外国公司更愿意利用其现有在华合资企业来生产电动车及其零部件。这个合资企业的中国伙伴是一家国有汽车制造商，中外资各持股50%。但根据工信部的初步计划，外商在中国生产电动车电池或发电机，需另建合资公司，其在合资公司的股权不得超过49%。
上述外国企业高管中一位负责政府关系的人士说，他更关心谁将拥有未来合资公司在研发电动车核心技术方面可能取得的创新成果。他说，现在看来很有可能是中方拥有这些成果，因为他们是大股东。
Norihiko Shirouzu
（更新完成）
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
Joining a wave of corporate criticism about Chinese industrial policy, foreign auto makers are concerned about a Beijing plan for electric-vehicle development that could force manufacturers like Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. to share cutting-edge technology with Chinese companies in exchange for access to the nation's huge market.
The 10-year plan, being prepared by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, is aimed at making the nation 'the world's leader' in developing and producing battery-powered cars and hybrids, according to executives of four foreign auto makers familiar with the draft.
The draft suggests that the government could compel foreign auto makers that want to produce electric vehicles in China to share key technologies by requiring the companies to enter joint ventures in which they are limited to a minority stake, the executives say.
Their concerns follow increasingly vocal criticism by foreign companies, such as Siemens AG, General Electric Co. and Microsoft Corp., about the business environment in China. Foreign executives and government officials have raised complaints about Chinese indigenous-innovation policies that the companies fear are designed to discriminate against them or to force them to transfer intellectual property to China.
The electric-vehicles plan is aimed at developing three to five Chinese companies into globally competitive makers of all-electric cars or plug-in hybrids by 2020, and developing two to three global suppliers of key components, such as advanced-battery and electric-motor technologies.
The plan calls for investment of as much as 100 billion yuan, or about $15 billion, in the electric-vehicle effort, on areas like charging stations and other infrastructure, say two of the executives of the foreign auto makers. It isn't clear if that figure includes corporate investment in addition to government funds.
The technology requirement is 'tantamount to China strong-arming foreign auto makers to give up battery, electric-motor, and control technology in exchange for market access,' says a senior executive at a foreign car maker. 'We don't like it.'
A senior technology executive at another global auto maker said the plan 'unnecessarily raises the hurdle for our plans for producing an electric car in China.' Since China is going to be a major market for electric cars and plug-in hybrids by 2020, producing them locally in China will be unavoidable, he says. 'But the new pending policy would make the process unnecessarily more cumbersome and complicated.' Transportation costs and duties make exporting cars from elsewhere for sale in China too costly, auto executives say.
The technology-transfer provisions could be changed or scaled back before the plan is finalized. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently distributed the draft to other government agencies and to some state-owned auto makers for opinions, according to the auto executives. If major opposition doesn't surface, the plan could be implemented as soon as next month, according to the executives, although they expect it will likely take longer.
Wang Lijian, director of the ministry's news office, said industrial-policy makers at the ministry responsible for the draft plan weren't available for comment.
China's government says concerns about the investment environment are unfounded. 'China is committed to creating an open and fair environment for foreign-invested enterprises,' Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told global business leaders at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in China this week. 'Foreign-invested enterprises in China on the whole enjoy a good environment and have reaped good returns.'
Concerns about the electric-vehicle policy already have caused at least one company to delay launching alternative-fuel cars in China. Toyota had planned to introduce the latest version of the Prius gasoline-electric hybrid in China in March -- which the company has been selling in the U.S. and Japan since May 2009 -- but has postponed the rollout until there is more clarity on China's industrial policy for what the government calls new-energy cars, according to Toyota executives in China.
China, set to surpass Japan this year as the world's second largest economy, is already the biggest car market, but it has yet to produce a major global car maker. The government sees the emergence of electric vehicles as a chance to put its auto industry into the world's top tier.
Over the coming decades, 'China is going to go from following the industry to leading the industry in automotive technology,' said Zhang Baolin, president of Chang'an Automobile Co., a state-owned enterprise in Chongqing. 'There will be lots of opportunities for us in the new-energy automotive field.'
The Industry Ministry projects that China will have five million battery cars and plug-in hybrids on the roads by 2020, and Chinese auto makers will have capacity to produce and sell three million gas-electric hybrids a year in China. 'Those are very aggressive plans, and there is a debate over whether those goals are really attainable or not,' says one of the foreign executives.
The plan also would toughen fuel-economy regulations as part of efforts to reduce China's reliance on gasoline and cut pollution.
The proposal would require foreign auto makers to form joint ventures with Chinese companies if the foreigners decide to produce key new-energy components -- such as advanced lithium-ion batteries and high-power electric motors -- in China. The plan would cap foreign ownership in the ventures at 49%, giving majority ownership -- and, thus, effective control -- to Chinese partners, the foreign executives say.
Last year, the executives say, the Industry Ministry imposed a rule on foreign auto makers that requires those who want to produce electric cars in China to use China-based intellectual property for one of the three core technologies: battery, electric motor, and electric vehicle control.
According to one of the four foreign executives, that means, for example, that a foreign company that opts to produce an electric car in China, will have to get one of the three core technologies from an existing supplier in China, produce that technology in China, or license it to a China-based company, raising concerns that the technology could be stolen. The executives say they fear contracts with Chinese partners might not be adequate to protect the foreign companies' intellectual property.
'We need to make sure we have a contract or agreement that allows us to continue to own and control the technology, even though we might be a minority stakeholder in the joint venture,' the senior technology executive says.
Currently, foreign companies are allowed to hold 50% of joint ventures that produce gasoline-powered cars. The technology executive says his company would prefer to produce electric vehicles and components within its existing 50-50 joint venture with a state-owned auto maker. But the Industry Ministry's draft plan requires the establishment of separate joint ventures for battery or electric motors in China, subject to the minority-ownership cap.
One of the foreign executives, a government-affairs official with a major global auto maker, says he is more concerned about who is going to own any new refinements that its future joint venture might make to core electric-vehicle technology. 'There's a distinct possibility your Chinese partner is going to own that technology since they own the majority of the joint venture,' he said.
Norihiko Shirouzu
The 10-year plan, being prepared by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, is aimed at making the nation 'the world's leader' in developing and producing battery-powered cars and hybrids, according to executives of four foreign auto makers familiar with the draft.
The draft suggests that the government could compel foreign auto makers that want to produce electric vehicles in China to share key technologies by requiring the companies to enter joint ventures in which they are limited to a minority stake, the executives say.
Their concerns follow increasingly vocal criticism by foreign companies, such as Siemens AG, General Electric Co. and Microsoft Corp., about the business environment in China. Foreign executives and government officials have raised complaints about Chinese indigenous-innovation policies that the companies fear are designed to discriminate against them or to force them to transfer intellectual property to China.
The electric-vehicles plan is aimed at developing three to five Chinese companies into globally competitive makers of all-electric cars or plug-in hybrids by 2020, and developing two to three global suppliers of key components, such as advanced-battery and electric-motor technologies.
The plan calls for investment of as much as 100 billion yuan, or about $15 billion, in the electric-vehicle effort, on areas like charging stations and other infrastructure, say two of the executives of the foreign auto makers. It isn't clear if that figure includes corporate investment in addition to government funds.
The technology requirement is 'tantamount to China strong-arming foreign auto makers to give up battery, electric-motor, and control technology in exchange for market access,' says a senior executive at a foreign car maker. 'We don't like it.'
A senior technology executive at another global auto maker said the plan 'unnecessarily raises the hurdle for our plans for producing an electric car in China.' Since China is going to be a major market for electric cars and plug-in hybrids by 2020, producing them locally in China will be unavoidable, he says. 'But the new pending policy would make the process unnecessarily more cumbersome and complicated.' Transportation costs and duties make exporting cars from elsewhere for sale in China too costly, auto executives say.
The technology-transfer provisions could be changed or scaled back before the plan is finalized. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently distributed the draft to other government agencies and to some state-owned auto makers for opinions, according to the auto executives. If major opposition doesn't surface, the plan could be implemented as soon as next month, according to the executives, although they expect it will likely take longer.
Wang Lijian, director of the ministry's news office, said industrial-policy makers at the ministry responsible for the draft plan weren't available for comment.
China's government says concerns about the investment environment are unfounded. 'China is committed to creating an open and fair environment for foreign-invested enterprises,' Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told global business leaders at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in China this week. 'Foreign-invested enterprises in China on the whole enjoy a good environment and have reaped good returns.'
Concerns about the electric-vehicle policy already have caused at least one company to delay launching alternative-fuel cars in China. Toyota had planned to introduce the latest version of the Prius gasoline-electric hybrid in China in March -- which the company has been selling in the U.S. and Japan since May 2009 -- but has postponed the rollout until there is more clarity on China's industrial policy for what the government calls new-energy cars, according to Toyota executives in China.
China, set to surpass Japan this year as the world's second largest economy, is already the biggest car market, but it has yet to produce a major global car maker. The government sees the emergence of electric vehicles as a chance to put its auto industry into the world's top tier.
Over the coming decades, 'China is going to go from following the industry to leading the industry in automotive technology,' said Zhang Baolin, president of Chang'an Automobile Co., a state-owned enterprise in Chongqing. 'There will be lots of opportunities for us in the new-energy automotive field.'
The Industry Ministry projects that China will have five million battery cars and plug-in hybrids on the roads by 2020, and Chinese auto makers will have capacity to produce and sell three million gas-electric hybrids a year in China. 'Those are very aggressive plans, and there is a debate over whether those goals are really attainable or not,' says one of the foreign executives.
The plan also would toughen fuel-economy regulations as part of efforts to reduce China's reliance on gasoline and cut pollution.
The proposal would require foreign auto makers to form joint ventures with Chinese companies if the foreigners decide to produce key new-energy components -- such as advanced lithium-ion batteries and high-power electric motors -- in China. The plan would cap foreign ownership in the ventures at 49%, giving majority ownership -- and, thus, effective control -- to Chinese partners, the foreign executives say.
Last year, the executives say, the Industry Ministry imposed a rule on foreign auto makers that requires those who want to produce electric cars in China to use China-based intellectual property for one of the three core technologies: battery, electric motor, and electric vehicle control.
According to one of the four foreign executives, that means, for example, that a foreign company that opts to produce an electric car in China, will have to get one of the three core technologies from an existing supplier in China, produce that technology in China, or license it to a China-based company, raising concerns that the technology could be stolen. The executives say they fear contracts with Chinese partners might not be adequate to protect the foreign companies' intellectual property.
'We need to make sure we have a contract or agreement that allows us to continue to own and control the technology, even though we might be a minority stakeholder in the joint venture,' the senior technology executive says.
Currently, foreign companies are allowed to hold 50% of joint ventures that produce gasoline-powered cars. The technology executive says his company would prefer to produce electric vehicles and components within its existing 50-50 joint venture with a state-owned auto maker. But the Industry Ministry's draft plan requires the establishment of separate joint ventures for battery or electric motors in China, subject to the minority-ownership cap.
One of the foreign executives, a government-affairs official with a major global auto maker, says he is more concerned about who is going to own any new refinements that its future joint venture might make to core electric-vehicle technology. 'There's a distinct possibility your Chinese partner is going to own that technology since they own the majority of the joint venture,' he said.
Norihiko Shirouzu
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