Archive for January, 2009
What crisis? GM China sales up 6% in 2008
Whilst US sales may be heading south, it appears that Shanghai GM, GM’s China arm, is doing exceptionally well when compared to its American arm. GM China sold an impressive 1.09 million cars in the PRC during 2008 giving its sales figures a 6% boost over 2007, however, sales may flatten or drop in 2009 [...]
Buick sales down in 2007
Practically every year since Buick was introduced into China has been a good year for Buick, except 2008 saw a slight downturn. Even the launch of the new Buick Excelle couldnt tempt people back into the showrooms. Could negative news about GM’s US demise have kept consumers away from buying a car that may have [...]
Ford S-Max finally given a name
The Ford S-Max was launched into China in 2007, except it wasnt given a Chinese name until now. The lack of a Chinese name was highly unusual for a car launched in China that came with an English name, Ford listened to its consumers and held a competition to give the S-Max a Chinese name, [...]
SAIC bought 4.5 million dollars worth of Ssangyong vehicles in Dec
SAIC, the 51% share holder in Ssangyong, purchased 4.5 million dollars worth of vehicles and SUV’s from Ssangyong in December as a means to supports Ssangyong. SAIC purchased 1000 Istana MPV’s and an unknown number of Actyon SUV’s. SAIC has come under a lot of pressure from the Korean government recently with regards to ‘rescuing’ [...]
Taiwan’s Yulon to team up with Geely
Taiwan’s Yulon car company was until very recently partnered with GM, however, the latest round of economic uncertainty caused GM to pull out of the partnership and look towards China for greater returns on investment. Yulon have been approaching Chinese car manufacturers for someone to replace GM, and it appears that Geely may be in [...]
The most awesome truck in China
This picture needs no description: There is an ‘In Soviet China…’ joke here, but we cant figure it out. AshAsh came to China at 18 on a whim and never left. Some 10 years later he collected a degree and a family along the way and now focuses his time on watching the Chinese car [...]
Michael Phelps to Mazda’s China Face
Lets hope he does better than Tiger Woods, when he represented Buick. Most Chinese were probably thinking ‘Who is this fellow leaning over the Park Avenue with a golf club in hand?’ From MSNBC: LOS ANGELES, CA – DMG Entertainment (www.DMG-Entertainment.com), a division of DMG (Dynamic Marketing Group), China’s leading media and entertainment group, has [...]
Greatwall: “Copy? What Copy?” – Fiat clone claims dismissed in China
Fiat claimed that the Great Wall Perry was a total clone of the Fiat Panda, but Great Wall said otherwise. An Italian court ruled in Fiats favor, and probably less suprising, a Chinese court ruled in favor of Great Wall. From Reuters: MILAN, Jan 5 (Reuters) – Great Wall Motor Co Ltd (2333.HK) said a [...]
Chery A3 hatchback goes on sale
The Chery A3 hatchback was first revealed to an amazed public in November 2006, and has finally been officially launched today. China Car Times once said that the A3 was the best looking Chinese made hatchback to date, and we still stand by that comment. The amazing looking A3 will be launched with a [...]
Brilliance FRV Sports model
In addition to the fantastic FRV Crossover, Brilliance also plan to launch the Brilliance FRV Sports model. Previously here at China Car Times we were praying hoping for a the FRV in 1.8T form, but it appears that Brilliance have opted to travel the 1.8 naturally aspirated path for the moment. Initially it appeared that [...]
Brilliance FRV Crossover
Brilliance are doing some amazing things in China recently, their FRV for example had an order book of over 5000 cars per month at one point. Brilliance now have two new models in the works to boost their FRV line up, the first one of which is this fantastic Crossover: The Brilliance FRV in standard [...]
VW to launch stretched Magotan
To capture a slice of the ever growing ‘slightly stretched’ sedan market, VW are planning to launch a stretched VW Magotan. If you are not familiar with the Magotan, it is essentially the European Passat, but with a name change to account for the previous generation Passat also being on sale. Perhaps due to the [...]
Geely to produce SUV in ’09
2009 is shaping up to be an interesting year for Geely, their range of cars is looking most interesting, their FC-2 sedan is on the verge of being launched, and their new SUV is also about to be put into production. Media reports early this morning indicate that Geely plan to launch their SUV (pictured [...]
Chinese Rediscovering their bikes
Well, at least according to one guy in Hangzhou, and UPI: In China, once called a “kingdom of bicycles,” cycling for fitness is making inroads after years of soaring car ownership, officials say. Bicycling for transportation was a hallmark of Chinese culture until the creation of an urban white-collar class in the 1990s led many [...]
Dongfeng to launch own brand coupe in 09
Dongfeng have been eager to build their own brand, and play catch up with other Chinese automotive giants such as FAW, and SAIC, both of whom have launched their own respective brands in recent years. Dongfeng have partnered with Honda, Nissan, and PSA, so they do have the technological know how to build a car, [...]
Besturn B50 sedan spotted – parked out in the snow
The Besturn brand is an unusual one, the name itself ‘Besturn’ was probably not the best choice for car – is it Pronounced Bes-Turn, or Best-Urn? Either way, we dont really think its a great name, but the cars that Besturn are actually making these days do look very good. The first Besturn was based [...]
The Best Chinese Concept Cars of ’08
Concept cars are great, they show a car companies radical designs and future plans for car designs. In return, car companies can gauge automotive show visitors responses to the concepts, this is much cheaper than putting an ugly car into production and having nobody buy it. This year, Chinese car companies have seen massive improvements [...]
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