If you are a car manufacturer, and you haven’t yet lined up your Chinese joint venture, don’t even bother to apply.

This is the message the Chinese government sends to the world in its new Foreign Direct Investment Industry Guidelines, which were released yesterday. These guidelines open more sectors of the Chinese industry to foreign investment, but they effectively close the door to foreigners who want to play in the increasingly overcrowded Chinese car industry.

Automakers have been removed from the list of industries the Chinese government “encourages foreign companies to invest in,” China Daily reports. (Read More…)