BMW to pay 5.1b yuan to help China dealers cover losses

Beijing

BAYERISCHE Motoren Werke AG agreed to pay 5.1 billion yuan (S$1.1 billion) to its distributors in China to help cover their losses after the retailers stopped ordering cars from the manufacturer, a dealer's group said.

The subsidies are the largest by an automaker to its retailers in China and will be paid by the end of February, said Song Tao, a deputy secretary general of the China Automobile Dealers Association, which represented the BMW distributors in the negotiations. The dealers are still in talks with the Munich-based carmaker over this year's sales targets, he said.