BMW venture gets green light

German luxury car maker BMW has received approval for its joint venture with Brilliance China Automotive Holdings, Bloomberg reported. The new venture will make 3- and 5-series sedans at Brilliance's plant in Shenyang, Liaoning province. Production is expected to start in the second half of this year, with a target production of around 30,000 units a year.

This will be BMW's first venture in China and represents a new direction for Brilliance, a minivan maker, which has recently won approval for its plans to move into car production. Lately, however, the company has been rocked by stories that Yang Rong, its former chairman, president and chief executive, was under investigation for failing to carry out a transfer of a 39 per cent stake in the company from the China Financial Education Foundation to an arm of the Liaoning provincial government. To restore confidence, the company, while denying that Yang Rong was under investigation for malpractice, has replaced him at the head of the company, appointing Wu Xiaoan as chairman and Su Qiang as president and chief executive.