Asia Tech Wire (Aug 14) -- Responding to rumors of building a plant in Italy, Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor said it has only made preliminary contact with the Italian government and has not yet made substantive contact.

Recent market news shows that as a condition for supporting Dongfeng Motor to build a new plant in the region, the Italian government has asked the Chinese automaker to agree to take measures in terms of network security and data protection.

In addition, Italy requires that 45% of the components of each vehicle produced by Dongfeng Motor come from Italy.

However, Dongfeng Motor said that it is in the process of negotiating the conditions for the construction of the plant, and that it has not discussed topics such as cybersecurity, data protection, and the localization of 45% of the parts and components.