Yang Rong (simplified Chinese: 杨骐榕; traditional Chinese: 楊騏榕), also known as Yung Yeung[1] and Benjamin Yeung[2] is an exiled Chinese tycoon.[3] He was born in Anhui province in 1957. Only a year after the magazine Forbes proclaimed him China's third richest businessman in 2001,[4] Rong fled that country for the US.[5]
He has since started a hybrid electric vehicle company, HK motors.[6]
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Rong, the founding chairman of China Brilliance Automotive,[5] was involved with the company[7] during the 1990s[4] but lost control in 2002 due to a failed bid to locate a production base in Ningbo.[5] As Ningbo is near the rich costal city of Shanghai, this was contrary to Chinese state policy encouraging economic growth in the poorer regions, and Rong incurred the wrath of the government of Liaoning in the attempt.[5] In 2002 he was accused of embezzlement, and an arrest warrant was issued precipitating Rong's flight from the country.[8]
While Rong was in control, Brilliance Auto made a number of IPOs. These included listing a subsidiary on the NYSE in 1992, the same subsidiary again on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1999, and that same year a different subsidiary on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.[9]
After leaving China in 2002,[3] Rong began a start-up car company in the United States, Hybrid Kinetic Motors Corporation[8] (SEHK: 1188).
As of 2010 the company will enter a possible joint venture with Jianghuai Automobile[10] selling parts in China for use in green technology vehicles.[3] A Tianjin,[1] Shandong province,[3] production base will be complete by 2013,[3] and while the original intent was to manufacture whole vehicles,[1] this JV will only supply parts.[3]
As of 2009 the possibility of producing Hybrid Kinetic vehicles at an undeveloped site in Baldwin County, Alabama, was discussed.[11]