BYD and Daimler sign joint-venture agreement

It was seen here before, but now it’s officially official: BYD and Daimler signed a joint-venture agreement to develop electric car(s) for the Chinese market.

The new company, called Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co. Ltd will owned 50:50 by BYD and Daimler. The two companies will invest RMB 600 million (about 88 million USD) to form the new joint-venture, headquartered in Shenzhen, the same city as BYD.

Roewe SUV, spotted again, but will it ever launch?!

The Roewe SUV has been in development, or rather undergoing the gluing of a badge to its front end since early 2007. With the Roewe SUV being largely based on a Ssangyong Kyron as SAIC were a former major stake holder in Ssangyong, however it ended in tears with Ssangyong’s bankruptcy which forced SAIC out [...]

Honda workers go on strike in China

Honda’s growth for 2010 could well be derailed if they don’t get their workers back inside, however the workers demands appear to be on the rather high side on paper. From the BBC: Honda has had to halt production at its four Chinese car assembly factories, because of a strike over pay at one of [...]

Jaguar to begin building cars in China!

UK workers may not fear: Carmaker Jaguar Land Rover is going to start assembling vehicles in China, the BBC can confirm. “We will need to manufacture at least two models in China,” said chief executive Carl-Peter Forster in an interview. “We’ll take one to two years to set it up, but first we will need [...]

Auto sales set to rev in the West, but stall in Asia?

Yet more news of an eventual bust in the Chinese auto market: The global auto sector looks poised for a recovery, but some analysts remained wary of the prospects — particularly for the Japanese, Chinese and Indian markets — because of the potential for rising manufacturing costs and uncertainty surrounding consumer spending. “The recovery of [...]

Chinese car market: Boom time to bust?

This article in the USA Today quotes CCT’s recent posting on Chinese Q1 sales and they believe that a weakening Chinese automotive market is going to push Chinese automakers into heading abroad earlier than expected to help them continue with their record sales that they’ve so far enjoyed. China, as we all know by now, [...]

Chevrolet Volt to be made in China

The Chevrolet Volt will be introduced into US markets very soon, but is also set to be launched in China in 2011. Initially the Volt will come via American made imports, but plans are in motion to put the Volt into production in China in the near future. The Volt is powered by its 16 [...]

Diversification Now: Wuling and King Long to make passenger cars

The Chinese auto market is booming, and everyone wants a (bigger) piece of the pie. Following the footsteps of JAC, one of China’s largest commercial vehicles makers, Wuling and King Long are planning to enter the passenger car market. SAIC-GM-Wuling so far has been mainly selling minivans and light commercial vehicles and actually has been [...]

Chrylser to be made in China again within 3 to 4 years.

Chrsyler might have been among one of the first foreign automotive outfits to jump into China with Chinese made vehicles with its partner, Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation, but now it is ready to swap from the political north to the carefree capitalist southern city of Guangzhou, but will it all work? When Fiat took over [...]

CNCAP to begin crash testing rear ends

The government body responsible for crash testing cars is planning to introduce rear end crash testing to improve the strength of automotive rear ends. China is a dangerous place to drive, in 2009 alone there were over 60,000 car crashes that were blamed on tail gating drivers. In Zhejiang province over the spring break weekend, [...]

Greatwall set to open new car factory in Tianjin

Greatwall have signed a deal with Tianjin’s economic zone which will see Great Wall build a new factory capable of producing 300,000 cars per year and attracting investment of 4.2 billion RMB The new factory will be producing GWM’s B series of cars and high end SUV’s, and will be a fully functioning auto factory [...]

Geely Gleagle IG to be cheaper than Tata Nano

According to Chinese automotive media reports, the forthcoming Geely Gleagle IG mini car is going to be priced lower than the worlds cheapest car, the Tata Nano. The Geely IG will go on the market in 2012 in China first, and will be sold worldwide eventually. The opening price is set to be from $2,250USD [...]

Saab returning to China, but under BAIC’s stewardship

As well as buying old Saab platforms, Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation (BAIC) has gained the rights to distribute Saab vehicles in China. It is still unclear how exactly BAIC plans to distribute Saab vehicles in China, if they plan to set up a new Saab dealership network totally devoted to Saab, or use its existing [...]

Flood damaged cars to hit the second hand market

After the massive rains and flooding in southern China earlier this month and in April, it is expected that thousands of flood damaged cars are about to hit the second hand market. China’s second hand car market is still very much in its infancy and has not yet learned to crawl, walk, or even make [...]

Seat plans for China shelved

Seat was initially hailed as VW’s savior in southern China, traditionally a market that VW has always underperformed in Southern China when compared to the local automotive giants that are in partnership with the Japanese giants of Toyota and Honda. VW aimed to set up a factory producing funky new Seat cars that were all [...]

BYD sells 13 F3DM’s in first month on sale

The BYD F3DM has not turned into the golden goose that the Chinese green car industry were hoping for, with a merge 13 units being sold in just over a month of being on sale to the general public. The F3DM was China’s first plug in hybrid which is powered by a 1.0L engine and [...]

Geely Golden Eagle Crossover to launch soon, cheap and very cheerful

Geely’s Golden Eagle hatchback has already been a popular model and has performed well against competition such as Brilliance’s FRV, and now Geely are playing catch up in the crossover stakes with a new model. Prices are expected to be from 54,000rmb and rising for the crossover model, which has a 1.5L engine that was [...]

Its all about Chery

Recently, Chery have been extra busy with expansion, and also building odd small cars. Here’s a media round up of what is actually happening at the Wuhu Wonder Company: May 19, 2010 (China Knowledge) – Chery Automobile Co Ltd, the largest domestic car maker in China, Tuesday started constructing an equipment production base in Dongsheng [...]

Zhongxing’s new SUV in rendered form

Zhongxing have sort of floundered like a fish out of water for a year or so reeling from the high oil prices that have derailed their sales, and have failed to be as competitive as GWM when it comes to divesting into smaller niche markets, however Zhongxing were a pioneer in their days with them [...]

Roewe 750 sales must be slow – throwing in 12,000rmb’s worth of free fuel

Sales of the Roewe 750 must be horribly slow in Beijing this month, as one dealer is throwing in 12,000rmb’s worth of free petrol to any buyer of the 750. One Beijing dealer is reporting that he has one of every color and every specification, which might mean he is actually overstocked and looking to [...]