China's central government departments have no immediate plans to buy BMW or Mercedes-Benz cars for official fleets, the Procurement Center of the Central People's Government said yesterday, xinhuanet.com reported.
BMW and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz vehicles have been added to an officially approved list of models that can be bought by government ministries and other departments, the procurement center said. Still, that doesn't necessarily mean purchases will be made immediately, it added.

The government plans to cut official expenses on vehicles by 15% this year from the average of the past three years, the procurement agency said. The central government won't replace most cars. It would only buy new cars for new officials or to replace heavy-polluting vehicles, the center said.

"So central government departments have no plan to buy BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars at present," the center said, "Being on the list only means the car manufacturers are qualified; it doesn't indicate actual buying plans of the government."

Luxury car makers BMW and Mercedes-Benz recently joined 36 other automobile brands on the procurement list of "official" vehicles for 2009-2010. "All nine models of BMW and Mercedes-Benz listed in the procurement catalogue were domestically made," the center said. 

The government had also taken the lead in buying Chinese-brand cars, the center said, with purchases of more than 1,000 such cars including Chery and FAW Besturn.