Archive for August, 2010
Jianghuai working with Chinese bad boy Yang Rong to set up new energy factory
China’s automotive bad boy, Yang Rong, who ran from China after being indicated in economic crimes is setting up a JV with Jianghuai to produce new energy vehicles and engines in Tianjin. With Yang being on the State’s bad boy list, its unclear as to how Jianghuai are hoping to get approval for the project, [...]
Facelift Phaeton and Touareg out testing in China
The VW Phaeteon and Touareg have been big hits in China, especially the Toureg SUV which was essentially one of the fist big SUV’s to hit the Chinese market and become popular overnight. The next generation Phaeton had its world unveiling at the Beijing Auto Show in April this year, as VW understand that for [...]
Zotye investing in and setting up EV production center
Recently car maker, Zotye have invested 2 billion RMB into a new factory that will be to produce upto 10,000 new energy vehicles per year, and is thus a 5 times increase on their original plan to produce 20,000 new energy cars per year. From what we have learned, Zotye has three platforms on which [...]
BYD L3 to launch later this month
BYD’s L3 model will launch later this month according to media sources. The L3 is yet another improved model of the popular F3, which sprouted the G3 and now the L3 as well. The L3 will be powered by BYD’s recently developed 1.8L engine and produces 90kw of power and 160Nm of torque, which will [...]
Hawtai’s B11 mid level sedan to roll off the lines this month
Hawtai might be a relatively small company in the Chinese auto market, but with small size comes agility that the bigger players don’t have. Hawtai’s small size allows it to react to market segments faster than its larger rivals and its agility is starting to come to fruitation, Hawtai’s previous partner Hyundai sold off its [...]
Greatwalls i7 Crossover to launch later this year
Greatwall are on a wall with their small car range, despite some small hiccups along the way that made them rethink their European strategy, their Chinese plans are going extremely well. Their latest small car is a crossover version of the i7 hatchback, although it appears to have lost its interesting grill and front end, [...]
Honda reports no loss of earnings from Chinse strikes
From Reuters: A top executive at Honda Motor Co (7267.T) said on Thursday the Japanese automaker expects no impact on earnings, including for the current quarter, from a string of labour disputes in China. Japan’s No.2 automaker has been forced to suspend production on and off at its four Chinese car factories since late May [...]
Foreign firms wanting to access Chinese auto insurance market
So far the Chinese auto insurance market has been controlled by the big Chinese companies such as PICC and Taiping, but smaller companies such as Da Zhong insurance are starting to enter the market. Now the game is about to change in a big way as foreign insurance companies are planning to enter the Chinese [...]
Korean cars topped up with dangerous Chinese AC coolant
From Joon Gang Daily: A Mercedes-Benz owner named Heo drove to a repair shop in June and complained about problems with his luxury sedan’s air conditioning. Heo told the repairman that he had replaced his refrigerant two months earlier. When they popped the Mercedes’ hood, they found the compressor covered in orange rust. A police [...]
China to hit 15 million car sales in 2010 – perhaps.
From Retuers: China’s passenger car sales are on track to hit 15 million units in 2010, the official Shanghai Securities News reported on Thursday, citing a senior official from an industry body. The strong sales growth rates in the first few months of the year were due mainly to a low base effect, and so [...]
New cars for 2010 second half
Now we are into the second half of 2010, it appears that the vast majority of automakers here in China are only just or have completely missed their middle of year sales goals which are likely to knock their end of year sales goals askew. Only BYD have so far come forward and lowered their [...]
FAW developing Audi A6 fighter
The history of Red Flag goes back to the 1950′s when the triumphant Mao set about building the new China, he ordered the then First Automobile Works (FAW) to set about making a sedan that was fit for a Chairman, FAW delivered and gave Mao the CA71 sedan which was Soviet based, and oddly under [...]
Subaru and Lifan in talks
The rumors of who Subaru are planning to work with in the Chinese market to build a new joint venture partnership are getting out of hand, first it was Ford’s partner in JMC, then BAIC, SAIC, FAW, and a whole host of other acronym-ed named auto makers, the latest to be added to this list [...]
BYD lowers sales goal for 2010
At the end of 2009 when BYD blew away its 400,000 production goal with relative ease, it was expecting to do the same in 2010 and lowered its sales goal to an impressive 800,000 vehicles. However, the middle months of 2010 have turned out to be slow months indeed for the Chinese car industry and [...]
Buick GL8 with slight face lift – spy pics
Whilst the beautiful Buick Business MPV concept remains at the concept stage, Buick have to keep a business MPV in the market amidst an increasingly competitive market. Over the past few months both Dodge, Chrysler, and Mercedes have put their own MPV offerings into production in the Chinese market, the GL8 was once the by [...]
GM’s China sales rise 22% thanks to Chevrolet
From Bloomberg: General Motors Co., the biggest overseas automaker in China, boosted sales in the nation 22 percent in July, aided by the popularity of Chevrolet cars, while deliveries by Ford Motor Co.’s local sales unit fell. GM sold 176,645 vehicles last month in the world’s largest auto market, after boosting deliveries of Chevrolet vehicles [...]
Taiwan’s Yulong to build factory in China
From AFP: ulon Motor, Taiwan’s largest automaker by revenue, said Monday it had received the green light from China’s government to start producing its high-tech Luxgen passenger vehicle there from next year.Yulon plans to manufacture the car in a joint venture with China’s Dongfeng Automobile Co at a plant in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, with [...]
Fiat China not putting Ferrari into production in China
There is no doubt about it, Ferrari are doing better than their parent company Fiat in China, but with Fiat on the verge of bringing Fiat China back to life its expected that Fiat will burst back into the Chinese market in typical Italian style. At a recent press conference, Fiat announced that it would [...]
Ford sees steady growth in July
Chang’an Ford, GM, and VW sales figures are strong indicators for the Chinese car market, if either of them report sales being down then you can bet that the market will be down as a whole. It appears that Ford did well in July with steady growth, with 18,255 vehicles leaving Ford dealerships across China [...]
JAC produces 3 cylinder 1.0L VVT engine
JAC have been producing small cars for the past three years as an extension of their successful MPV producing venture, JAC turned to making small cars due to the volatile nature of the Chinese MPV market which largely relies on business consumers to make purchases rather than families who prefer small cars due to the [...]
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