Beijing ? McDonald’s Corp. and a Chinese oil company on Friday opened the first of a planned series of more than two dozen drive-through restaurants, launching an effort to tap China’s growing taste for cars and Western fast food.

The drive-through on Beijing’s northwestern outskirts is McDonald’s 16th in China, but its first in the new venture with China Petroleum and Chemical Corp.

Jeffrey Schwartz, McDonald’s chief executive officer for China, said the two companies plan to open 25 to 30 drive-throughs in the next 12 to 18 months.