Archive for November, 2009
Beijing pure electric sedan – Fantastic, Amazing and Electric
Pure electric cars have never looked good, remaining in the domain of the odd two door city car like the fake smart cars and Geewhizz electric cars in London, however Beijing Automotive seem to have plans to totally change the face of the electric car with the introduction of the Beijing branded electric sedan that [...]
‘Pimp’ Coolbear makes my head hurt
The Greatwall Coolbear certainly is cool, but it doesn’t look like a bear. One person has tried to make a pimp coolbear, but CCT cant help but think that money would have been better spent on something else. So is this Coolbear pimp, or just plain nauseating? Let us know via the comment box. AshAsh [...]
Geely planning to up Volvo sales to one million by 2013
Geely’s ambitious plans to take on the premium automotive brand Volvo from Ford seemed to have a strange twist this week, with Geely apparently planning to boost sales to an impressive 1 million units per year by 2013. Geely is planning a new Volvo factory in China which will be able to produce 300,000 vehicles [...]
Hyundai planning third plant in China, sales up 83%
The Chinese governments automotive stimulus has served both domestic and international car makers well, small compact sedans and hatchbacks have performed extremely well, all thanks to government intervention. Korea’s top automaker, Hyundai, along with its joint venture partner Beijing Automotive have successfully increased their sales by 83% in China this year, which resulted in their [...]
Ssangyong says SAIC pilfered its drawers
From the Korean Times State prosecutors said Wednesday a controversial transfer of technology for gasoline-electric hybrid cars to the China-based Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) from Ssangyong Motor in Korea, owned by SAIC, in 2006 violated laws banning the transfer of sensitive information. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office indicted seven senior engineers at Ssangyong [...]
Happy Birthday, CCT!
China Car Times is officially three years old this week. As the story goes, the idea for CCT was officially born just before the Beijing 2006 Auto Show when I wrote an article about the launch of Roewe on my own (now defunct) personal blog, that article became quite popular and as I was researching [...]
Chery working on electric QQ3
Despite the QQ3 being ready for a facelift, Chery appear to be doing some fairly advanced work on an electric model: The pictures clearly show that the QQ3 Electric (QQ3E) has had its tail pipe removed, and a charging port installed instead, the gearstick is the type that is usually utilised on small electric cars [...]
2010 Chery QQ: Is it an acquired taste?
Without a doubt, the Chery QQ is THE iconic Chinese car, it launched in 2003 and is still going strong in 2009 with sales over 10,000 units per month. The QQ3 has not changed at all since its launch, however 2010 is set to see a facelift model, shown left. The front end seems to [...]
Brilliance and BMW to expand joint venture
Shenyang Brilliance and BMW are set to drastically expand their joint venture according to the Brilliance-BMW joint announcement this morning in the Great Hall of the People. BMW are expected to expand their China line up with extra models, and are expected to invest a further 4 to 5 billion RMB into the joint venture. [...]
Jiangling preparing coolest Chinese pick up truck to date
Chinese pick up trucks are mostly based on ancient Isuzu technology, they do the job, they are small robust vehicles that can take a hammering or two, but they don’t look very ‘Da Qi’ compared to their foreign counterparts (which don’t sell in China, yet). JAC’s Jianglings own N350 pick up is getting ready to [...]
Guangzhou Auto’s Acumen brand spotted out
When Guangzhou automobile took over Changfeng automobile this year, they inheritied Changfeng’s half finished R&D project into a sedan range, Guangzhou have decided to continue where Chanfeng left off and push their self designed sedan into production. It’s not entirely clear what engine the Acumen sedan will be offering come launch time, but as next [...]
New Buick HRV becomes the Ying Lang
The Opel Astra is soon to be renamed the Ying Lang in China and will replace the ageing Daewoo Lacetti in Buick showrooms across China. The Ying Lang is going to launch at the Guangzhou Auto Show later this month, and will aimed squarely at the 6th generation VW Golf, and will be packing a [...]
Chang’an to take over AVIC car makers!
It was announced in the middle of last year that the central government plans to consolidate the Chinese car industry, which now stands at around 89 different manufacturers and brands. The first to merge were SAIC and Nanjing MG, which made them into a regional power house, the Anhui duo Chery and JAC are rumoured [...]
Price of gasoline rises at the pumps again
The price of gasoline at Chinese gas stations continued with its march up today, with prices rising across the board by as much as 8%. China raised prices on diesel and 90# gasoline, as well as jet fuel. The price of 90# gasoline, which is widely used in the countryside and suburbs for minivans and [...]
Porsche Panamera launches in Xiamen, priced at 1.84 million RMB
For the man (or lady) that has everything, but still has the need for a 5 door sports tourer, then the Porsche Panamera is the car for you. The Panamera launched earlier this year in Shanghai, showing that Porsche has put the Chinese market first, the Panamera is now up for sale in China following [...]
China to begin probing US car imports
With President Obama slapping down an anti dumping tax on Chinese made tyres, he single handedly irked the Chinese government and started what might become known as the auto wars. China did not take too kindly to its tyres being priced out of the US market thanks to anti dumping taxes, and plans on probing [...]
China inspired Ferrari sells for 2 million USD
So says China Daily A Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano China Limited Edition was sold on Wednesday night for nearly $2 million to an anonymous bidder from Shanghai at an auction in Beijing. The auction took place at a gala dinner held to celebrate Ferrari’s fifth anniversary in China and proceeds from the sale will fund [...]
Next generation of Nissan Micra spotted in China!
The Dongfeng Nissan JV is getting quite a bit of a boost in the next coming months, its line up already consists of two SUVs (Qashqai and X-Trail) Compact hatches and sedans (Livina, Tiida, and Bluebird Sylphy) as well as larger sedans such as the Nissan Teana. That line up is soon to be extended [...]
Chery launching new ‘super luxury’ brand
Chery obviously don’t have enough on their plate with their automotive brands which currently consist of Chery, Karry, Riich and Reely, they plan on adding yet another to their portfolio of sub brands. The new super brand is going to be named Xuan Yuan (轩辕) and takes the name of a man in early Chinese [...]
BYD yearly sales to top 400,000 vehicles
Whilst car makers the world over languish with poor sales, a new upstart from Shenzhen China is posting record sales. Shenzhen based BYD is expected to post yearly sales of over 400,000 vehicles this year, with January to September sales sitting at nearly 300,000 vehicles. BYD seem confident that they can push a further 100,000 [...]
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