The perks of being a civil servant keep dwindling.
As part of new anticorruption regulations announced by China’s cabinet Monday lower-ranking civil servants will no longer be allotted official cars for general use, excluding vehicles needed for law enforcement or emergency-response services.
A security officer stands next to a Chinese made Hongqi car outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Reuters
The move is one of several Beijing has made in recent years to step up scrutiny of its official fleets. It has previously urged governments to buy Chinese-made brands and earlier this year cracked down on other auto-related perks enjoyed by the country’s leaders, including the military.
Cars no longer needed because of the new rules will be disposed of via a public bidding process or other forms of auctions, the guidelines said. In the future, civil servants will be allowed to select their preferred mode of travel and will be reimbursed under a transportation-allowance system.
UBS Securities estimated the value of auto sales to governments in China at about 120 billion yuan, or roughly $20 billion, a year, which looks set to decline given the ongoing fleet-reform regulations, said Andreas Graef of management-consulting firm A.T. Kearney.
While governments will continue to procure some cars for official use, there will be greater centralization of purchasing procedures for cars and related products and services such as car insurance, maintenance services and gasoline, he said.
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 