Archive for January, 2011
Chery A4 spotted out testing – to launch second half of 2012
The Chery A3 has been one of Chery’s big hits since it begun the restructuring of Chery group and split the brand into the Riich, Reely and Karry brands, Chery has continued to produce cars under the Chery name plate. The A3 will soon be joined by a larger model, named the A4. The A4 [...]
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-01-23
Joined the special club of idiots yesterday when attempting to drive into an underground car park with a bike on the roof. # Is there a classier sedan on the market than the Citroen C5 in China? The 3.0L V6 was built for wafting on a budget. # Was the new Nissan Sunny designed with [...]
Toyota Camry SE to launch in China
Toyota are eager to the Honda Spirror, which indecently has not sold too well since launching, and are planning to launch the Taiwanese edition of the Toyota Camry which will be pushed as a sports model in the Chinese market. The Camry SE is likely to be produced by Guangzhou Auto and will be launched [...]
Competition between VW’s 2 Chinese partners
Friend or foe, that’s a difficult question for VW’s two Chinese joint ventures, Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen. Although VW always claim that they are good partners without frontal competitiveness, everyone can realize that their relationship is uneasy. Established in Oct 1984, Shanghai Volkswagen only produced Santana B2 and the updated version of the Santana 2000 [...]
MG3 Crossover design sent to the patent office… and leaked to the internet
The automotive department at the Chinese patent office is a leaky one indeed, it seems as soon as cars arrive in their possession they leak straight out to the internet, but of course we all benefit from seeing the cars before they are launched so its win-win for the car fan. The latest leak from [...]
Mercedes to introduce 4 new cars, including 1.8T GLK into China
Mercedes are eager to build up their range in the Chinese market to chase their German rivals Audi, their current Chinese local production consists of just the C-Class and E-Class of vehicles, but this is expected to be expanded with 4 new cars from Mercedes, including the GLK. News of the GLK SUV going into [...]
Range Rover Evoque to be priced from 800,000rmb
The Range Rover Evoque has only just been revealed in China to an impressed audience at the Guangzhou Auto Show where it also gained its Chinese name. Now the Chinese automotive media are eager to speculate on the forthcoming Evoque, and one major rumor that is currently circulating is pricing: The Evoque will be priced [...]
Lifan SUV to launch in February, priced under 100,000rmb
Lifan’s SUV has been displayed several times at major auto shows within China, although it has yet to make it to dealerships where an SUV model is much needed to kick some life into Lifan’s sales in China. The Lifan SUV is rather similar to the Toyota RAV4 in terms of design but will be [...]
Suzuki Kizashi still doing poorly in the Chinese market
The Suzuki Kizashi was a much heralded vehicle in the Chinese automotive press prior to its launch in China, an AWD vehicle that came in at a price lower than the equivalent Subaru Legacy but without the lashings of internal fake wood, but after actually hitting the market the Kizashi has been as popular as [...]
Acura ZDX sighted in China – to launch soon
The Acura brand is gaining traction in China, especially with its MDX SUV model, sedans on the other hand remain a rare site on Chinese roads. Acura are planning to boost sales in China by adding another crossover SUV to the line up, this time it will the ZDX Crossover. The interestingly designed ZDX was [...]
Clean Diesel Cars To Be The Way Forward?
An interesting article from the China Economic Daily, perhaps a Chinese U-turn on diesel technology is about to begin: The advantages of clean diesel technology are no longer strange to many people, but quite few people really have a deep understanding of it. When talking about this topic, we can, in fact, transform the original [...]
Harley Davidson launches new models in China
Harley Davidson has been in China for several years now with dealerships spotted around the country, even though it is illegal to have a bike more powerful than 125cc in China Harley Davidson have been doing swift business in the Chinese market. For 2011 Harley have updated their pricing and also model range: Fat Boy [...]
Youngman’s Lotus L5 gets a facelift for 2011
Youngman’s Europa brand silently changed over to the Lotus brand several months ago in a bid to boost more sales in China and has also released the L5 model – a China only model. Youngman’s other models are heavily based on Proton models that are being produced in China and re-branded as Lotus models. The [...]
Mitsubishi’s global small car to debut in China next year
Mitsubishi have slipped into the position of being the Japanese Chrysler – producing great looking cars with average interiors that just don’t sell like they used to, Mitsubishi are aiming to change their fortunes on the back of the Chinese market with the introduction of a widened car range and also a new joint venture [...]
Next generation of Audi A6L spotted out testing in China
The Audi A6L has been a top seller in the Chinese market and has captured the entire executive business use market and also the government minister market in a single swoop, its German rivals in the form of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW 5-series can barely keep up with the A6L’s popularity in China. The [...]
Chinese car sales to fall by 17% according to Credit Suisse
There is no mistaking that Beijing’s hard line measures against the automobile within Beijing city center are being watched closely by other Chinese cities throughout China that are also fighting the growing problem of traffic congestion, Credit Suisse recently revealed a report stating that Chinese car sales may fall by 17% if other Chinese cities [...]
Chang’an joining the tigers in Detroit
Detroit is the home of the American Big Three and soon it will be the adopted home of Chang’an automobile who are moving into Mo’ Town to make the most of the talent that is available in the big city. Changan Auto is one of China’s sleeping auto giants with partnerships with Volvo, Ford, Mazda [...]
VW to set up own sub brand – joining GM, Honda and Nissan
Volkswagen have already worked on the VW Bora and VW Lavida for the Chinese markets with their Chinese partners and with this extreme level of localization they managed to gain two major sales winners, now VW are planning to recreate the localization recipe for another new car. VW China CEO, Karl-Thomas Neumann was quoted by [...]
BYD S6DM to launch in the US in 2012
There is no denying that America has a love affair with the SUV, after all it was their creation and they have taken it to new heights with full size SUV’s and to lower heights once again with crossovers. America went into the Prius love affair with gusto, the Prius became a Hollywood sweet heart [...]
Dodge Caliber to be made in China
Guangzhou Auto and Fiat are planning to produce the Dodge Caliber in China under a new plan to gain more sales for Chrysler in the fabled Chinese market. Chrysler were originally partners with Beijing Auto Group but Chrysler pulled out of local production due to poor Sebring and 300C sales, Chrysler were then forced into [...]
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