Automotive investors
Major participants in the sector include Beijing Hyundai, Beijing Jeep Corp and Beiqi Futian, a leading producer of light trucks. Beijing Hyundai, a joint venture between Hyundai of South Korea and Beijing Auto motive Industry Holding Corporation (BAIC), sold 94,000 Sonata and Elantra cars in the first three quarters of 2004. The Tucson sports utility vehicle is due to be introduced in 2005, as the company plans to expand its annual production capacity to 200,000 units.

US car components firm Visteon Corp opened a new US$ 30m facility producing air-conditioning compressors for Beijing Hyundai in September 2004. BAIC took a 20 per cent stake in the venture.

DaimlerChrysler's Beijing Jeep joint venture with BAIC began production of its Chrysler Jeep 2500 model in 2003. the company has recorded huge losses in recent years but after more than doubing sales in 2003 to 20,000 units, announced that it expected to make a Rmb 200m profit in 2004. the venture, which also produces the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and Cherokee SUVs, has reduced its workforce from 8,000 to 3,200 in the period since 2000.

Beijing is china's second largest retail center after shanghai, with sales of Rmb191.7bn in 2003. CVIC Plaza , in which Yaohan took an initial interest, and Yansha Youyi Shopping City , which opened in 1992, were the city's pioneer joint venture retail projects. They were followed by Parkson of Malaysia's Goldlion Group, Seiyu of Japan and Carrefour of France. Just south of Wangfujing, Beijing 's main shopping street, is Li Ka-shing's massive Oriental Plaza . In 2004, a 680,000-sq-metre mall built and run by the Golden Resources group opened in the Haidian district. The developers claim it to be the largest of its kind in the world, covering 56 hectares and with more than 1,000 shops and a huge restaurant area. The developers also hope to open an indoor ski slope, a cinema complex and spa within the mall.

Twenty leading domestic retailers are engaged in rapid consolidation to prepare them to compete with foreign-invested stores. Restrictions on the locations of foreign stores and the equity stakes held in retail ventures were due to be lifted by December 2004, as part of china's WTO commitments.

One local retailer with big expansion plans is Wumart Stores, China 's 12 th largest store operator with more than 500 outlets. In 2003, the Beijing-based concern announced plans to open 424 new stores nationwide within two years, including 19 hypermarkets, 32 supermarkets and more than 300 convenience stores. One year later, it signaled a move into Beijing 's department store sector by opening a five-storey outlet in the north of the city, with two others planned. It owns just under 60 per cent of Beijing-based chain Chaoshifa, which operates more than 100 stores in the city. Wumart's profits in the first half of 2004 were up 55per cent to Rmb 49m .

Convenience stores
Beijing Wangfujing Department Store said in April 2004 that it was planning a US$ 24m supermarket in the capital in partnership with Japan 's Ito-Yokado. Seven-Eleven, a subsidiary of this Japanese group, opened its first five joint venture convenience stores in the capital in the spring of 2004. It planned to open up to 50 outlets across China by the end of the year.

In 2003 Dia Group, an arm of French retailing giant Carrefour, announced plans to open up to 540 discount store in the Beijing area in a joint venture with Chinese company Shoulian. Us-based Wal-mart, the world's largest chain retailer, opened its first branch in the Shijingshan district in 2003, with plans to open a further three in Beijing in the coming years.

Starbucks coffee has quickly established numerous outlets in the capital, including one in the grounds of the Forbidden City . Some of its stores offer free Internet access in partnership with Sohu.com. In 2003, Kingfisher of the UK opened a B&Q home improvement store in Beijing , its biggest in the world. The 23,225 sq metre outlet was the 14 th of a planned 70 stores in china. The retail, catering and tourism conglomerate Beijing tourism group also looks set to become a major player in the city after absorbing hotel operator Beijing new yansha group and restaurant chain Beijing Quanjude, to form a group with total assets of over Rmb20bn.

Despite its frequent attempts to cool overheated property investment, the city approved its first wholly foreign-owned real estate investment firm in April 2004. Singapore 's CapitaLand has already set up a US$ 60m fund to develop residential and commercial properties in the capital. Overall, Beijing attracted Rmb73.4bn of investment in real estate projects in the first eight months of 2004, 21 per cent more than in the same period in 2003.

The state-owned Beijing Capital Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the capital with seven listed subsidiaries, is planning its own IPO in 2005, partly so as to complete two large Beijing-based infrastructure developments. Some believe that property investors are rushing to get their projects approved before a pre-Olympics cooling-off period sets in, as the local authorities will not want the city scatted by building sites in the run-up to the Games.
In an attempt to attract skilled expatriate workers, the municipal government is offering foreigners who purchase residential property a tax rebate of up to 80 per cent on their personal earnings in the previous year. It has also simplified procedures and waived administration fees for non-citizens who buy homes, making the process the same as that for local.