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BLG helps carmakers enter Europe

By Li Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-21 09:45

BLG, Germany's leading car logistics company, is stepping up efforts to promote its technical support service which it said could help China's carmakers to overcome some of the common problems they face in trying to enter the European market.

In a sector intensely focused on security and environment, stringent standards on styling, safety, emissions and performance are the major hurdles for Chinese carmakers.

"Five hundred skilled automobile workers at BLG's technical centers will help to convert the imported cars to meet European standards," said Detthold Aden, BLG's president and CEO.

The BS6 mid-sized sedan from Brilliance Auto, China's 16th largest carmaker, failed a crash test in Germany last June, which cast a shadow over the Chinese carmakers that are looking to expand their sales in the European market.

Some skeptics claim that Chinese car manufacturers are a decade away from producing cars that could compete in Europe and in the US. But Aden disagrees.

"Once they know how to build the first car safely, they will build all cars safely," he said, using South Korean brands such as Hyundai and Kia, who have benefited from similar technical aids, as examples.

Ralf Nagel, minister for economic affairs and ports of Germany's Bremen, said Bremerhave, one of the largest automobile harbors in the world, welcomes China's carmakers with expertise in logistics, such as the cutting-edge container positioning system using space technologies.

As the market leader of car logistics, BLG will offer all relevant services for Chinese car exporters to the entire European continent. For example it will manage all necessary homologation and customs clearing papers before entering the market.

BLG's logistic network, which uses vessels and railways, could provide transportation to bring Chinese cars into Russia, which is the prominent destination for Chinese car exporters, Aden said.