The Roewe 550 sports model has been spotted again, we will leave comments regarding its looks to our commentators.
Well, what do you think of the ’sports version’ styling of the Roewe 550?
Archive for August, 2008
Roewe 550 Sports Edition spotted again!
Published by July 31st, 2008 in Roewe - Rong Wei. 7 CommentsChina bought 366 new energy cars in first half of 2008
Published by July 30th, 2008 in Chinese Car News. 2 CommentsIn a land of 1.3 billion, in a land of 43.30USD per gallon gasoline, in a land where form is often taken over function, in a land where you can pretty much sell any car EXCEPT hybrids. You would think, that with gasoline being at record highs at the pumps that Chinese people, with their legendary frugality, would be dropping their gas guzzlers en masse in favor of hybrid vehicles, but stats dont lie, and its obvious that a vast majority of Chinese just dont like hybrid cars (yet)
The Chinese Association of Automobile Manufacturers released statistics today which reveal the lack of appetite for new energy cars in the PRC at the moment. The Chinese Association of Automobile Manufacturers regard any car that is not a powered by gasoline or diesel as being a ‘new energy car’ that includes full electric cars, hybrid cars, LPG, and hydrogen cars etc. In total, 366 new energy cars were sold in the PRC from Jan to June in 2008, which is actually an increase of 107% over the previous year.
China Car Times believes that once domestic marques such as Chery, BYD, and Geely mass produce hybrid technology into their models, which are then sold on at a reasonable rate, hybrid sales figures will most probably increase dramatically.
Geely SUV to make Sept 2009 appearence
Published by July 29th, 2008 in Geely Automobile and Chinese Car News. 6 CommentsPictures of Geelys forthcoming SUV were posted onto the internet yesterday. The excellent looking SUV measures LxWxH 4600mm x 1855 x 1720.
Geely are going to use their new MPV and SUV platform on the Geely SUV, which may well be named the Geely NL. Engine power will be derived from the Geely 4 series of engines, the first engine to be used will be the 1.8l VVT 16v model which is already used in the Geely Yuan Jing sedan, the Geely NL will also be paired to an automatic gearbox. The 4 series engine line up will also be shortly expanded to include 2.0l and 2.2l diesel engines.
The Geely NL will have the option of true 4wd and will use Macpherson strut suspension linkages.
As per usual, China is to blame for record fuel prices:
BEIJING, July 28 (UPI) — China’s escalating demand for oil can be traced to increased auto sales in the country and government subsidies that keep prices low, analysts said.Although subsidies were partly lifted recently, gas now costs $3.40 per gallon in China. SUV sales, meanwhile, rose 43 percent in May this year compared with May 2007 and sales of full-sized sedans jumped 15 percent, The Washington Post (NYSE:WPO) reported Monday.
The country now has 15.2 million private cars, which puts it on par with the United States of 1915, when less than 4 percent of the population owned a car.
“The entire energy market of the world is being affected by this country already. Can you imagine when we get to 50 people out of every 1,000 in China owning cars?” asked Friedhelm Engler, design director for an joint Chinese-General Motors design lab in China.
The purchase of cars has government support. Bicycles are now banned on some streets in Beijing. The city of Dalian and others have banned smaller cars on the premise they are old and dirty, the report said. And several municipalities have cut sales tax and worked with banks to make car loans available, the report said.
Obviously issues such as taking Iraqi pipelines offline for years, sabre rattling against Iran, hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, and instability in Nigeria are not to blame, just China for importing around 3 million barrels per day and shutting off oil exports to protect their domestic market.
On another note, here is a very interesting article on the history of domestic oil production and oil use in China.
According to Chinese media reports, Lifan Automobile, are planning to get into the manufacturing of own brand minivans or breadvans as they are known in China, due to their shape (they look like a loaf of bread).
Lifan are going to invest 1 billion RMB into the new factory, which will be have a total area of 6000 square meters and will produce between 150,000 to 200,000 vehicles per year.
Lifans recent plans for expansion are being funded by their partnership with American Insurance Group (AIG) which will see the two work together to create vehicles, and eventually take Lifan to IPO in China.
Chongqing is one of the most biggest producers of automobiles in China, its home to Ford, Suzuki, Mazda, and then a range of domestic players such as FAW, Chang’an, Lifan etc etc so its really no wonder that the city is building up so quickly, The Daily Telegraph currently has an excellent article, titled ‘The Eagle and The Dragon‘ which is a comparison of the USA and China. Interesting reading:
Chongqing’s biggest car manufacturer is Changan-Ford, a joint venture between Ford, Mazda (the Japanese company in which Ford has a majority share) and a local company, Changan Automotive Group, the venture’s largest shareholder: Chinese government regulations stipulate that in such ‘backbone’ industries a foreign party cannot be the majority shareholder.
Thomas Yao, the factory’s head of public relations, took me on a guided tour. The factory, he explained, had opened five years ago, built from scratch in strict accordance with Ford’s global manufacturing standards, and produces up to 250,000 cars a year. The average non-technical production line worker earns 18,000 yuan (about £1,300) a year, working an eight-hour day, with a 15-minute break every two hours and an hour for lunch. (Wages, and the cost of living, in Chongqing are between a quarter and a third less than in the major manufacturing centres of the south and east, where the average urban salary is 25,000 yuan, about £1,800, a year.) The company provides extensive healthcare, insurance and pension packages. Workers are encouraged to make suggestions about how to improve the production process - there are ‘break-out’ areas where groups sit together and review their performance - and receive awards and bonuses if their suggestions are adopted.
Read the rest on the Daily Telegraph site
Great Walls plans for European expansion by using its newest mini car, the Perry, have been thwarted after a court in Italy declared the Fiat Panda, and the Perry are too alike.
TURIN — A Turin court ruled this week that a Chinese minicar built by independent automaker Great Wall won’t be allowed into Europe.
The court said the GWPeri minicar is too similar to the Fiat Panda.
Fiat sued Great Wall both in Italy and in China. Those moves were aimed at keeping the GWPeri out of the European Union and out of China. Fiat alleged that the car was a clone of its Panda minicar.
On July 16, a Turin court accepted Fiat’s claims, saying in its ruling “the (GWPeri) doesn’t look like a different car but is a (Fiat) Panda with a different front end.”
The court ruled that Great Wall should pay a 15,000-euro fine for the first GWPeri imported in Europe. In case of further violations of the ruling, the fine grows to 50,000 euros per imported car.
Lawyers for Great Wall said the company will appeal the Turin court decision.
The court case in China is still pending. Earlier this year, Great Wall starting selling the GWPeri in China.
Fiat doesn’t sell the Panda in China. The car has been Europe’s best selling minicar since 2004.
China Car Times has a review of the Great Wall Perry coming soon, so stay tuned!
Shanghai VW are reportedly working on another secret car, possibly a ‘New Midsize Sedan’ or NMS. The car is expected to replace the VW Passat Lingyu in China by 2010, and will also go on sale in the USA. The car is planned to be the same size as the currenty Toyota Camry, but at the usual VW price.
VW are planning to build a new production plant in Chattanooga, USA which will produce the NMS by 2011, which could lead to Chinese made VW NMS’ models being sold in the US for a year.
The Chinese press were unable to get an official comment from Shanghai VW on the NMS project, however, last year Shanghai VW and VW came to an agreement that Shanghai VW would be responsible for developing a new vehicle body including exterior and interior parts.
More news on this as we get it!
China to raise tax on big cars, buy your big cars quick!
Published by July 24th, 2008 in Chinese Car News. 4 CommentsWe’re not sure what exactly is a ‘large engined’ car in China. Many people have smaller cars, i.e. 1.6 or less, then the vast majority of business users must be 2.0 and higher. In a land where Humvees (CCT spotted 3 Hummers on the way to work this morning, including a H1) Navigators, and other full size SUV’s are becoming common place, perhaps the limit of ‘large engines’ will be raised to 2.5 or even 3.0l.
Reuters explains:
China’s cabinet agreed in principle to raise the consumption tax on cars with large engines to help save energy, the government said on Wednesday.
The State Council did not provide details on when or by how much it would increase the tax, but it said that such a move was needed to contribute to the country’s energy efficiency drive.
“With the acceleration of industrialisation and urbanisation, the tight energy supply is becoming one of the major obstacles hampering our economic and social development,” the cabinet said in a statement on the central government’s website (www.gov.cn).
It added that energy-efficient automobiles would be given preferential tax treatment, and said that it would look to make sure that polluting old automobiles are taken off the streets and that public transportation will be ramped up.
The cabinet also said efficiency should be emphasised more broadly in the power sector.
“Closing fuel-oil fired power plants must be made the main point of shutting small power plants. The level of support for economising on and replacing crude oil projects must be strengthened,” the report said.
Beijing, trying to make its economic growth greener, has set a goal of reducing energy intensity by 20 percent between 2006 and 2010.
But China heavily subsidies fuel, meaning there is little incentive for status-conscious consumers to buy efficient car models rather than gas-guzzling sedans.The cabinet also passed a draft order on energy efficiency in buildings that will encourage the use of new technologies and materials in the construction of homes and offices.
It too contained little detail and will need to be followed up with specific implementing rules.
Chery stops growing in 2008, focus on quality
Published by July 24th, 2008 in Chery Automobile. 1 CommentThe biggest issue with Chinese automobiles right now is overall quality. Its the small things such as ill fitting interior plastics, cheap plastics, and poor choice materials that lets down various marques, but Chery wants to rectify those problems according to Automotive News China:
SHANGHAI — Chery Automobile Co., long the fastest growing Chinese automaker, stopped growing in the first half of this year.
Can it still become a world-class automaker, a goal its president Yin Tongyao set late last year?
Yes. Actually, the company now has a much better chance to succeed than ever before.
Passenger vehicle sales in China reached 3.6 million units in the first six months, up 17.1 percent year-on-year. By contrast, Chery’s sales, about 208,000 units, barely changed from a year ago.
Chery is obviously losing market share. But that is because the company has put the quality of its products before their quantity and halted new model launches since October last year.
Chery was incorporated in March 1997. In August 2007, it became the first domestic automaker to produce 1 million units. That’s remarkable growth, indeed. But it also came at a cost.
While aggressively expanding production, the company compromised a key aspect of sustainable growth: product quality.
Fortunately, Chery’s managers realized that changes were necessary.
They know that without good product quality, Chery can only make a profit of about 500 yuan ($74) by selling a car, as Yin famously once said.
They also realized that without quality, the deal they signed with Chrysler LLP won’t lead anywhere.
To make its next new model, the A3 mid-sized sedan, a fine product, Chery has repeatedly postponed its launch. Meanwhile, with Chrysler’s request help, Chery is making consistent improvements to the vehicle that it plans to sell in the United States with a Chrysler badge.
Also, Chery’s joint venture project with Israeli investment company Quantum is well underway. The new venture mainly targets the international market.
Chery is also cooperating with more global suppliers, such as ArvinMeritor and Continental, for high quality parts.
True, Chery may be still a thousand miles from becoming a world-class player. But the company is making progress.
Chery put four new models into sales in the first nine months of 2007. But no new model has been launched since.
I expect to see its new product to come out of such a long waiting period with much better quality than its predecessors.
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