Archive for August, 2010
Chevrolet Volt to launch in China on August 31st, on sale in early 2011
The Chevrolet Volt is finally coming to China, and will be officially launched on August 31st according to media reports, but will not go on sale until early 2011. The Volt will go on sale in the USA priced at around $41,000USD, which is around 280,000rmb, but pricing is not expected to be so low [...]
BAIC working on their own B-Class, or is the B-Class going into production in China
As many Chinese car pundits already know, Beijing Auto Industry Corp (BAIC) has big production plans for their own range of cars which are so far SUV and sedan models, however it appears that BAIC could be working on its own MPV based heavily on the Mercedes B-Class range of small people carriers, or Mercedes [...]
Is Yang Rong coming back to China unheeded?
Yang Rong is one of the Chinese state’s bad boys, not quite an enemy of the state but certainly not a best buddy of those in power. Yang was born in Anhui province and was one of the early founders of Brilliance Automotive which went onto do great things under his leadership, but Yang fell [...]
MG5 details leaked – 1.5T coming soon
It is quite obvious that MG-Roewe are following the MG-Rover tradition of making MG the sporting brand, whilst Roewe remains the family use brand. MG’s sporting credentials are set to get another boost with the soon to launch MG5 hatchback, which will be based on the Roewe 350 but will be carrying the much hyped [...]
Jaguar and Chery to work together in China – reports from the rumor mill
For Jaguar, China is one of the biggest markets in the world and it is only getting bigger as China’s appetite for luxury motors continues and Jaguar-Landrover (JLR) are looking to take a bigger slice of the market. JLR is planning to enter the Chinese market with a Chinese partner to assemble JLR vehicles in [...]
Chery’s latest A01 hatchback
Chery love small cars, it’s unclear why they feel it is nessecery to build so many small cars that increase competition within the dealership floors, their current small car line up includes the Chery A1, Fulwin2, QQ3, QQ6 and the QQme and if you want to exaggerate slightly perhaps also the A3 sedan could be [...]
The electric car subsidies – what are they good for?
The Chinese automotive media, and also the foreign media, have been impressed by China’s generous subsidies of upto 60,000rmb for pure electric car buyers, which really is a great first step to encouraging consumers to take up electric car ownership, but one major stumbling block remains: You cannot buy a pure electric car yet. In [...]
Jonway’s electric UFO becomes official car at America’s Expo Pavillion
Several months ago, American electric car producer ZAP! signed up with China’s Jonway UFO SUV maker to produce electric cars for the Chinese and overseas market. In an unusual turn of events, it appears that ZAP! have managed to pull some serious strings and have been able to get the Jonway Electric SUV designated as [...]
Honda Crosstour to launch in fourth quarter
The Honda Crosstour was unveiled to the Chinese public in April this year at the Beijing Auto Show, where it seemed to attract a small niche crowd of car fans. The Crosstour will be built by the Guangzhou-Honda JV, and Guangzhou Honda CEO Mr. Yu Jun is eager to see the Crosstour launched in China [...]
Huatai’s B11 comes down the line
The Huatai B11 has officially come down the production line today and will be available for sale in a matter of weeks. The Huatai B11 will go by its Chinese name of 元田 (Yuan Tian) and will be available with a SAIC sourced 1.8T engine to start with, although its much talked about diesel variant [...]
Saab 9-3 still on sale in China, but big discounts abound!
Saab’s never sold well in China, partly due to the limited scope of the dealership network and partly due to a lack of advertising, it almost seemed that only Chinese students that studied in Europe and came back to China developed a taste for the unusual European brand. Saab is now under Koenigsegg’s Spyker’s control [...]
Shanghai green car buyers to be awarded upto 50,000rmb in subsidies
According to the new energy office and policy maker Mr. Liu Jian Hua, Shanghai city is developing its own plans to promote green cars in the city in a bid to clear up the cities automotive smog. Should a Shanghai resident buy a plugin hybrid, they will be able to receive a 20,000 subsidy, and [...]
Chevrolet Orlando spotted out testing in China!
The Chevrolet Orlando is GM’s shot at a making an MPV that will resonate with younger buyers, the concept was officially launched at the Paris auto show in 2008, and it has been seen since testing in China although in heavy disguise which made it difficult to confirm if it was the Orlando or not. [...]
China Export figures up
Latest automotive export figures show that the world appetite for Chinese cars has once again regained its composer over the last six months. In the first part of this year, China exported over 250,000 full vehicles which is a 55.34% increase over the same period in 2009, the total value of exports reached $3.1 billion [...]
It’s not meltdown, its slowdown.
From AutomotivePR.com: The media has being going wild regarding the recent slow-down in China’s automotive sales, which have been decreasing in sales month after month for three months in a row, and with it likely becoming a fourth month by the end of August, and maybe even a fifth month at the end of September. [...]
2011 Buick Lacrosse rendered in glory
It appears that the 2011 Buick Regal will be getting the Opel Insignia’s VXR treatment in the front and rear. For those that are not familiar, the VXR series of cars were Opel’s and Vauxhall’s performance lines for the Insignia model in the European market. The VXR range comes in 4×4 which is a 2.8 [...]
Lamborghini sales up, as are prices.
China is now Lamborghini’s second largest market after selling 86 models in the first half of the year, compared to 2009 where they sold just 26 models. The combined sales revenue of the Asia Pacific Region accounts for 34% of Lamborghini’s total sales, whilst this figure was only 15.8% during the same period in 2009. [...]
Geely Emgrand EC715 to launch soon
Geely are busy preparing their EC8 series for the Emgrand line, but they do have another model in store, the EC715. Whilst to Western consumers the Geely line up of vehicles seems confusing, especially using serial numbers instead of car names it is actually quite simple once you understand it. E stands for Emgrand, C [...]
LDV back from the dead in China
LDV has a long history, and not all of it is glorious. It was originally part of the Freight Rover series under the then British Leyland banner, which later became part of Leyland-DAF and then became part of the Russian GAZ group in 2006. Despite GAZ’s massive plans for LDV, one of which was to [...]
BYD G6 sedan rendering leaked to the internet
Whilst BYD’s sales goal for 2010 has been lowered, this does not mean that BYD are going to stop developing cars, in fact BYD is set to launch the G6 soon. BYD’s G6 sedan is the upmarket version of the already existing F6 sedan, and will be sold in BYD’s A3 sales network with a [...]
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