MCAULIFFE'S GREENTECH MONGOLIA CAR PLANT SUPPORTED BY FUNDING FROM CHINESE GOVT

Factcheck.org reported on Monday that development of GreenTech Automotive's proposed Mongolia automobile manufacturing facility has stalled because promised funding from the Chinese government to GreenTech's joint venture with a Chinese company has fallen through. Terry McAuliffe, Democratic nominee for governor of Virginia, served as chairman of GreenTech Automotive from 2010 to 2012.

In August 2011, Automotive IT reported that GreenTech Automotive (GTA) said it will build and sell a new range of fuel-efficient cars in China . . . teaming up with Shengyang ZhongRui Investment Co to launch its Chinese production and sales venture." According to the report, "[t]he jointly owned company, which is called Ordos GreenTech Automotive Co, has started work on a new manufacturing facility in Ordos in Inner Mongolia. The plant will produce a full line of vehicles powered by US made combustion engines, hybrid powertrains and pure electric drivetrains."

Factcheck reported on Monday that GreenTech Automotive Vice President of MarketingMarianne McInerny, responded to questions via email and blamed the joint venture's apparent failure to construct a plant in Ordos on the Chinese government:

As for China, the Ordos plant that McAuliffe announced with such gusto in 2011 may never be built. Construction was halted and put on indefinite hold when Chinese government funding dried up. GreenTech’s McInerney says the company employs five people there, awaiting a decision on whether promised government financial assistance will be restarted.

McInerney's emailed statement to Factcheck on Monday appears to be the first time that the Chinese government's role in financing the GreenTech Automotive joint venture in Mongolia has been reported publicly.

McAuliffe resigned as chairman of GreenTech Automotive on December 1, 2012. According to a Statement of Economic Interests filed with the Virginia State Board of Elections in 2012, McAuliffe still owns stock in the company that he values at more than $250,000.

Image: GreenTech Automotive