Archive for March, 2010
Indycar race appears to be heading for China circa 2012
F1 seems to have certainly become the race of choice for many Chinese motorsport enthusiasts, but Indycar seemed determined to bring their driving skills to China at some point the future to show the Chinese that driving in circles is actually quite fun: Terry Angstadt, Indy Racing League president of commercial affairs, says the league [...]
Guangzhou-Fiat gains government recognition production to start in 2011
Yesterday the Guangzhou-Fiat joint venture officially gained recognition from the central government and will begin production of Fiat vehicles in China by September 2011. The automotive venture will be based in Hunan province at the Changsha Economic Zone and will be carrying 5 billion RMB of investment into the area, and has registered capital of [...]
Lifan’s first SUV to launch in Beijing Auto Show
Lifan’s first SUV is preparing to launch at the Beijing Auto Show where it will no doubt prove a hit with consumers in second and third tier cities. Lifan has already proven itself to be a big seller to second and third tier cities where its vehicles are welcomed due to their low prices and [...]
Shanghai VW to show electric Lavida at Beijing Auto Show
The Beijing Auto Show is going to see a lot of new metal to kick start the 2010 auto buying year, one of the new models is going to be the electric Lavida sedan from Shanghai VW. The Lavida was initially launched as a self developed car built in cooperation between SAIC and VW for [...]
Roewe 350 pictures – again!
SAIC seem to have a real problem keeping the forthcoming Roewe 350 under wraps, it has been spotted out countless dozens of times by various different organisations. Either SAIC is terrible at keeping its cars secret, or it deliberately flaunts them to get press attention. The Roewe 350 will officially launch this month, and will [...]
FAW, SAIC and VW heading south together
At the last Guangzhou Auto Show, VW announced that it was going to head south straight into the Japanese car loving nest of Guangdong to take on the local strong hold of Guangzhou-Toyota and Guangzhou-Honda. VW has remained traditionally strong in provinces north of Shanghai but has remained weak sales wise in Southern China. VW [...]
Dongfeng-Honda to produce self developed hatchback
Dongfeng-Honda have been in a partnership for quite sometime, they build the more popular Honda cars such as the CRV, the Civic and the City mini car, what they don’t have is a hatchback. Dongfeng-Honda have been rumored to be introducing the Honda Civic into the Chinese market in hatch form for quite some time, [...]
Chery X5 SUV to launch this month
Chery’s flagship X5 SUV which will be sold under the Reely sub brand is expected to launch this month on the 28th according to auto reports. The X5 recently took part in the Paris-Dakar rally where it did reasonably well for a first try at the terrain, and certainly proved its worth as an offroader. [...]
China must learn from Toyota’s mistakes
And if they would do that, then the Chinese automakers would largely be unstoppable From the China Daily: Beijing – Japanese automakers’ recent product recalls were not only a warning to Chinese homegrown brands not to expand too fast and ignore management and quality control, but also sounded an alarm to China’s automobile recall system. [...]
MG2 spotted out testing down under!
Over the weekend the UK magazine, Auto Express posted spy pictures of the forthcoming MG2 out testing in what very much looks like an Aussie backdrop. News on the MG2, or the Roewe 150, is still slim on the ground. Its not likely to be using the the Rover 25 platform that later became the [...]
Next generation Buick GL8 out testing again
The new Buick GL8 has been spotted out testing yet again in China, and is proving to be quite a handsome MPV, which is a hard thing for car affectionardo’s like China Car Times to say. The original Buick GL8 was a pioneer for Shanghai-GM with it being a ‘China Only’ model designed in partnership [...]
Chery M14 to become the Chery A3CC, complete with 2.0T
The Brilliance Coupe was one of the first truly desirable Chinese coupes to launch, it had a decent amount of poke from its 1.8 turbo engine but it looks like the long overdue Chery M14 is coming along to rain on its parade. The M14 is going to be renamed the Chery A3CC, and will [...]
BYD tops February sales yet again
Automotive sales were slightly down in February 2010 due to the long holidays and the slightly shorter month. The BYD F3 has come in top of the ranks yet again. The F3 does seem to have pulled quite a lead over the nearest competition, but this is probably due to BYD’s relative fame for making [...]
Geely to ramp up gearbox production
Last year Geely purchased DSI, one of the worlds largest gearbox manufacturers. Despite early issues with management walk outs and various other issues, Geely seem to have a firm grip on the company and plan on ramping up production at the gearbox plant. Two Geely Automobile plants in Jining, Shandong Province and Xiangtan of Hunan [...]
Roewe 350 to be produced this month! Final pictures out!
The above car is the Roewe 350, the third self developed car from SAIC for their Roewe brand. The 350 takes on the design cues of the Roewe N1 concept car that was first seen at last years Shanghai Auto Show and shows that SAIC can take a car from concept to production in just [...]
Geely secures financing, to buy Volvo for 2 Billion USD
Various media outlets are reporting that Geely has officially got the funds needed to take over Volvo, the reported price tag being 2 billion USD, a far cry from the 6 billion that Ford originally bought Volvo for. Geely’s financing has reportedly come from government institutions as well as local banks that are all clearly [...]
Beijing’ers getting back to riding their bikes
So says the BBC: Office worker David Dai is one of a growing army of Beijing residents returning to two-wheeled transport. But the 28-year-old does not rely on his own pedal power – like hundreds of thousands of others, he has bought an electric bike. These battery-powered, and virtually silent, machines have become increasingly common [...]
BYD planning on California plant
According to various reports from both inside and outside of China, BYD maybe planning on building a factory in the sunshine state of California. BYD are reportedly deep in talks with the Californian government with regards to setting up BYD’s North American headquarters in California, which is famed for its progressive stance on new energy [...]
BAW B40 to launch at the Beijing Auto Show
The BAW B40, one of Beijing Auto’s first self developed models under its realigned Beijing brand is set to launch at the Beijing Auto Show in April this year. The B40 is one of the first models developed from the range of concept vehicles that Beijing released at the Shanghai Auto Show several years ago, [...]
Haima M2 sports version to launch soon
The Haima M2 may look like a Mazda2 due to its previous tie up with Mazda, but it is in fact a lot larger. Now Haima are planning on launching a sports version which looks like it will give the car a little bit more of a boost in the sales department: Engine power comes [...]
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