Archive for July, 2009
Warren Buffet makes 1 Billion USD off BYD investment
According to reports from Bloomberg and auto.sohu.com from earlier this morning, it appears that veteran investor Warren Buffet has made an incredible 1 billion dollar paper profit from his investment in BYD. Trading on the Hong Kong floated stock has increased five fold since his 232 million USD investment in BYD late last year. Bloomberg [...]
Guangzhou Auto and Gonow Auto sign JV agreement
Gonow Auto, a small privately owned SUV and pick-up truck manufacturer based in Taizhou City, has signed a 50:50 joint venture with Guangzhou Automotive Group. Details of the JV are still sketchy, but it appears that Gonow has put fixed assets into the deal, whilst Guangzhou Auto are set to invest cash into the deal. [...]
Lifan planning 440 million RMB A-Share IPO
From Reauters: SHANGHAI, July 30 (Reuters) – Lifan Group, one of China’s biggest motorcycle makers which is diversifying into car production, aims for an initial public offering in Shanghai this year, raising as much as 3 billion yuan ($439 million), sources familiar with the situation said on Thursday. Lifan, partly owned by an American International [...]
Beijing Auto bidding for Volvo?
Although it seems like the Volvo purchase by Geely is practically in the bag, Beijing Auto Works seem poised to attempt to snatch Volvo from under Geely’s noses with a counter offer to Ford for the Sweedish auto maker. Ford is hoping that a two way contest for its Volvo brand will bring about higher [...]
Geely in the Economist
We have a special sort of love reserved for the man, the legend, the Mr. Frank Zhao: From The Economist: AT A time when most carmakers are struggling to cope with the worst crisis the industry has experienced in living memory, the ambitions of Geely, China’s biggest privately owned car firm, are breathtaking. The company [...]
Buick GL8 aka the Buick Business Concept out testing
The next generation Buick GL8 MPV was spotted out testing earlier today, and keeps much of the concept design from the Shanghai 2009 Auto Show Buick Business Concept. The car, or MPV itself is much like the current Buick GL8 MPV but with curvier sides: The new Buick GL8 is not expected to launch until [...]
Central Govt gives Geely the nod to buy Volvo
The Chinese central government has finally given Geely the penultimate nod to buy the stricken auto maker Volvo from its current owner, Ford. The Shanghai securities journal is reporting that Geely have received official notification from the NDRC (National development and reform committee) the official government organ for overseeing Chinese acquisitions totalling 100 millions USD [...]
China VW Sales exceed German VW Sales
For the first time VW sales in China have jumped over sales in VW’s domestic market in Germany. According to statistics for the first half of 2009 VW China sold 652,000 vehicles, whilst VW Germany sold 630,190 vehicles over the same period of time. Chinese VW sales have increased by 22.7%, German VW sales are [...]
Price of gas falls…..
After last months rise in gas prices, the Chinese government has now lowered the price of gas. Last months gas price rise was initiated by the central government in response to complaints from China’s two largest refineries who have been operating at a loss for several years, according to media reports prices have been lowered [...]
Second Generation Citroen C5 to launch in China
The mid size sedan segment has already been taken over by the Germans and the Japanese automotive manufactures, but the French are not willing to give up without a fight, especially Citroen. Citroen plan to launch the second generation Citroen C5 into China later this year according to Chinese media reports. The C5 is expected [...]
BYD aiming for sales of 700,000 units
From Reuters: SHENZHEN, July 27 (Reuters) – China’s BYD Co Ltd (1211.HK), a battery maker that aspires to be a leading electric vehicle producer, has set its 2010 car sales target at 700,000 units, up 75 percent from its target for 2009, a senior executive said on Monday. BYD, partly owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire [...]
Dongfeng Honda launches Honda Spirior today
Dongfeng Honda launched the Honda Spirior today, launching what they claim to be a premium sports car for the Chinese market place. The Spirior name is a mash up of the two English workds Spirit and Superior, the Chinese name has been set as 思铂睿 (sai bo rui), a phonetic translation of the English name. [...]
Malcolm Bricklin at it again, plans to export Chery G6 to USA
Long time observers of the Chinese car industry may remember Malcolm Bricklin and his oddball plans to take Chery vehicles to the USA, this all ended in a spat and with Bricklin threatening to sue the bejesus out of Chery for ripping him off. Now it seems to be that Chery, or rather Bricklin, is [...]
JAC working on B-SUV
JAC are looking set to be one of the more comprehensive car manufacturers in the Chinese marketplace with their largely respectable designs, but they have let the odd monster loose as well. The upcoming B-SUV is going to be a small city SUV and will launch early next year according to reports. R&D on the [...]
SAIC talking with Fiat regarding odd JV set up
According to a report in the China Business Magazine, SAIC and Fiat are currently in talks regarding business matters, and a final agreement will be reached in September. From what we have learned, SAIC have been in contact with Fiat on several occasions regarding the current status of the Iveco-SAIC joint venture, which SAIC inherited [...]
Huatai Bentley – spotted out!
The renderings of Huatai’s own home made Bentley were posted to CCT quite some time ago, we all thought it was a proof of design concept and Huatai would never actually make the thing. Except we were wrong, they did make it, and they do plan on producing it, and they’ve got a road tester [...]
Chery and JAC officially merging to become Da-An Motors
Chery and JAC are to officially merge and become Da-An Motors according to media reports from early this morning. The two car companies are both owned and operated by Anhui provincial government and are set to merge later this year to become Da-An Motors according to a plan shown to the Shanghai Securities, which was [...]
Skoda Yeti: China Bound at last?
The Skoda Yeti is quite possibly the funkiest SUV ever designed in the history of SUV making. It’s small, its not big, it has lots of room, the concept even had a stowaway bike rack in the rear bumper. What more could a family want in a small compact SUV? The Yeti is rumoured to [...]
Chinese made Lancer finally given Chinese name
The next generation of Soueast Mitsubishi Lancer is getting ready to roll off the production line. The current SouEast built Lancer is somewhere between the 5th and 6th and 7th generation Lancers, and is quite frankly, nothing compared to the 8th generation model. Thankfully, SouEast and their JV partner, Mitsubishi, do have plans to introduce [...]
China Eclipse: How was it for you?
With the sun and the moon managing to blot out the sun across Asia earlier this morning, we’d like to ask how it was for our CCT readers? Did anyone take any good photos? It was a non event for CCT. I climbed a local mountain waiting for the ‘big event’ only to fall asleep [...]
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