Archive for February, 2010
Understanding China’s stimulus
The US News website has a great interview with Edmund Harriss, a comanager of the Guinness Atkinson China and Hong Kong fund: To what extent is the Chinese government unwinding its stimulus efforts? I would put it as sort of adjusting rather than unwinding. I think unwinding is probably a bit strong. They are still [...]
January Car Sales up 84%
From Reuters: SHANGHAI, China — China’s passenger car sales rose 84 per cent in January from a year earlier as buyers took advantage of tax breaks and other incentives ahead of the Chinese New Year, a research group said Friday. Passenger car sales totalled 1.22 million units for the month, the Shanghai-based China Passenger Car [...]
Cars with the biggest discounts this month
A list of cars with the biggest discounts in February have been released to the internet, the Chevrolet Camero has come out on top with a fantastic 160,000rmb discount to boost sales in a country where the Transformers movie is loved, but not a lot of love for the real Bumblebee can be found (alternative [...]
PSA in talks with Chang’an for second Chinese joint venture
From the Shanghai Daily: PSA Peugeot Citroen SA has been in talks with Chinese car maker Chongqing Changan Automobile Co about setting up its second venture in China to tap rapidly growing demand, people close to the deal said. A company executive from Changan, which also partners with Ford, Mazda and Suzuki, denied earlier media [...]
Ford-Chang’an to continue with Volvo China production…
Ford and Chang’an set up a JV to make Volvo cars in China a few years back, the JV is small but does produce the S40 sedan in China, and also assembles the S80 from knockdown kits for the domestic market (these are popular with astronauts) From Reuters: We respect the existing Volvo production contract [...]
ZAP and Jonway UFO to start making electric SUV
ZAP are more famous for their interesting press releases which boost their stock price with fantastic concept cars that never come to be, whilst UFO are famous for their RAV4 clone SUV, and strange name. Both ZAP and UFO have come together to work on an electric RAV4 SUV and are planning to build 50,000 [...]
Huatai B11 – China’s first diesel sedan?
Diesel cars are all the rage in Europe, where their love of the black cancer causing fuel is just as strong as the Chinese love for rice and baijiu, but diesel passenger cars have never become overly popular in China. Diesel cars in China are limited to SUV’s such as the Greatwall Hover, and various [...]
Chinese electric car charging station standards to be announced in June
China is expected to release its standard for nation wide electric power stations in June this year. Shenzhen city, the home of electric pioneer BYD, is reportedly planning 20,000 electric charging stations which will make it the worlds pioneer in vehicle charging. In 2010, the Chinese State Grid has set its eyes on the next [...]
Geely sets up Beijing office to oversee Volvo
Geely has set up a subsidiary company in Beijing to control and manage its latest asset, Volvo. In 2009 Geely went on a massive buying spree which saw it snap up a large share in the British taxi maker, LTI, the Australian gearbox maker DSI, and also the crown jewel in its portfolio, Volvo. Geely [...]
Chery to spend 240 million on R&D this year
The state owned automotive group, Chery Automobile, are planning to earmark 240 million RMB for R&D funds which will no doubt assist them in their plans to sell 700,000 vehicles in 2010. Chery have plans to launch an impressive 17 new models in 2010 spread across their 4 sub brands, the M14 coupe, and Riich [...]
Beijing to increase parking fees by 100%!
It appears that the central government is eager to introduce the car into peoples lives via lower taxes on car sales, but they seem intent on keeping them out of the city limits by introducing massive parking fees and strange registration limits to keep cars off the road on certain days. From April 1st, Beijing [...]
SouEast Motor to recall Mitsubishi Lancer
SouEast motor have only just launched the Lancer, but due to a fault with a bolt in certain CVT models they are initiating a recall to bring the cars back to the dealerships. The Lancer first rolled off the production lines in September was available for sale in late December, previous Lancer models were once [...]
Facelift BS4 Wagon spotted out – Lookin’ good
The BS4 Wagon is one of the first good looking Wagons out in China, and is looking even better with its minor nip and tuck facelift that it is set to get for 2010: The BS4 Wagon appears to have taken on some Audi Allroad styling, which suits the wagon very well. The front end [...]
Wowsers! Huatai B11 on display at long last!
Huatai invited a select group of people to come and look at its stunning B11 sedan over the weekend, despite the number ‘Do not take photos’ signs, many people still took photos which eventually made their way to the internet: Early on when spy shots of this car were released to the internet it was [...]
SouEast to revamp range this year
In 2009 SouEast finally got themselves into gear, they had been selling a stale range of ex-Mitsubishi vehicles such as the Freeca, and Delica. Soueast put the new V3 into production, they put the Mitsubishi Zinger into production, and also the 10th Generation Lancer, which has breathed a breath of fresh air into the range [...]
2010 Sales Goals for Chinese manufacturers all up, despite tax being up too
2009 was a brilliant year for Chinese car manufacturers, with every month setting yet another record from January’s low sales, to Decembers record high sales. Early in the year the Chinese government stepped in to cut tax on sub 1.6L cars to 5%, whilst this boosted car sales in a massive way, the government raised [...]
Toyota to recall 75552 RAV4′s in China
FAW-Toyota, the JV between First Automobile Works and Toyota, are planning to recall a staggering 75552 RAV4 SUV models which were only recently launched in China due to the international accelerator problems that have affected the company worldwide. The factory responsible for producing the RAV4, Tianjin FAW-Toyota, have already suspended production of the vehicle until [...]
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