AviChina to shed all auto businesses by year end

AviChina Industry &Technology will focus on the aviation business and totally cast off loss-making automobile manufacturing by the end of 2009.

Besides Changhe Auto, its listed arms include Jiangxi Hongdu Aviation Industry, Hafei Aviation Industry, Ltd. and Harbin Dong’an Auto Engine. AviChina now has shifted its focus onto China’s ambitious jumbo jet project.

Alibaba reports that in mid-March, China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC), the majority shareholder (and effectively a government entity) of AviChina, launched an auto division  —  AVIC Automobile Industry  —  in Beijing to restructure and consolidate Hafei Auto, Changhe Auto, Dongan Power and some other auto or auto-parts businesses of AVIC.

It all sounds a bit messy and this sorting out is probably well overdue.