Archive for February, 2011
Delphi aiming for growth in China
From People’s Daily: US auto parts maker Delphi expects the fast-growing Chinese market to help it double the share of its global business generated in the Asia-Pacific region over the mid-term future. Majdi Abulaban, president of both Delphi Asia-Pacific and Delphi China, said in a recent interview that the company’s sales revenue in the region [...]
GM sells 268,000 vehicles in January
General Motors are often used as a yard stick to gauge the performance of the car market, they are always first to release their sales statistics and January nearly always sets the paces for sales in the year ahead. With GM’s sales up 22% over January 2010 its obvious that GM are in for a [...]
Chinese revving their engines for India
Indian cars have yet to make their foray into the Chinese market but it seems Chinese cars are ready to enter in the Indian market. India has a heavily protected market with a few state owned players, much like the Chinese market. Suzuki have had a strong success in India with their small car range, [...]
Fake Chinese parts flooding the aftermarkets in China
Automotive dealerships in China have a stranglehold on the car maintenance market, mostly because car owners are wary of taking there cars to automotive repair chains. On the other hand, major Western automotive repair chains have yet to enter the Chinese market in large numbers, the American chain Grease Monkey entered China in late 2006 [...]
Geely sales reach 45,634 units in January 2011
Geely’s January sales reached 45,634 units in January 2011 according to information released today. The sales are 4% higher than January 2010′s but 18.7% lower than December 2010′s sales. The top sellers in January were the Freedom Vessel, King Kong, Vision and also Emgrand EC7 and EC8. AshAsh came to China at 18 on a [...]
SAIC see’s strong sales in January 2011
From Reuters: Top Chinese automaker SAIC Motor Corp (600104.SS) sold 35 percent more vehicles in January than in the same month last year, as a holiday buying spree helped it extend momentum from late 2010. SAIC, which runs vehicle manufacturing ventures with General Motors (GM.N) and Volkswagen (VOWG.DE), said on Friday it sold 416,000 vehicles [...]
Chang’an aiming to produce 2.5 million vehicles
Chang’an are aiming to produce 2.5 million vehicles in 2011 according to a recent Chinese media report. Chang-an’s aims for 2011 may appear high, but the more startling fact remains that around 1.9 million of those sales will be self branded vehicles. Chang-an’s self branded vehicle range is made up of its mini van and [...]
Rumor and speculation on SAIC’s trading halt
SAIC suspended their share trading last friday ahead of a major announcement which is due over the next couple of days, the suspension has of course got the Chinese automotive media, and Western media in a tizzy as to what the announcement maybe about. In mid 2010 SAIC suspended its shares once before, the announcement [...]
Ssangyong to launch new Korando in China soon
Contrary to popular belief, Ssangyong are still in China with their distinctively designed SUV range although they have retired from the front pages of automotive publications due to the lack of new metal in their line up, although that is set to change soon. The all new Korando, a reused name tag on a brand [...]
Recently launched Emgrand EC8 to get new GeTech engine soon
The Emgrand EC8 has only just been launched in 2.0L and 2.4L specification but Geely are planning to kill off the Mitsubishi engines used in the EC8 in favor of something from their own line up. Mitsubishi has long provided engines to Chinese auto makers that lacked their own self developed engines, although many Chinese [...]
Geely Panda to launch in Australia soon
Australia seems to be one of the first Western markets in Geely’s sights for its world expansion plans, it was rumored for a long time that Geely were planning to buy the mothballed Mitsubishi factory in Adelaide, but it seems that plan never took off and Geely instead bought the Australian owned DSI transmissions to [...]
2.0T BMW X1 sighted in China
The market for luxury crossovers is heating up in China, the market was first tested by the imported Audi Q5 although that was later produced in China and has sold extremely well so far, (with dealers adding an extra 50,000rmb to allow consumers to pick up their vehicles first). Mercedes introduced the GLK and BMW [...]
Production ready BYD S6 SUV spotted
The BYD S6 will be BYD’s first SUV and is part of BYD’s goal to take the brand more upmarket and away from its economy roots. The BYD S6 was first shown off at the Guangzhou Auto Show and then later at the Detroit Auto Show in hybrid form – the first time that it [...]
Toyota Zelas to be priced at 250,000rmb and rising
The Toyota Zelas was shown off at the Guangzhou Auto Show earlier this year, the Zelas is a renamed Scion tC from Toyota’s American youth brand, Scion. Toyota announced in early 2010 that they plan to introduce the Scion range into the Chinese market to resonate with the youth market that they have so far [...]
Auto sales slowing in China due to city limits on car growth
It looks like the cars to the countryside subsidy program that the Chinese government introduced in 2009 is going to be seeing a lot more consumers as city limits begin to groan at the extra weight of cars being added to roads on a daily basis. Beijing has become internationally renown for its recent harsh [...]
Shanghai VW sales over 100,000 units in Jan
Shanghai VW’s January sales have reached 108,108 vehicles in January 2011, an increase of 49% over January 2010′s sales. VW branded vehicles sold 82,101 vehicles an increase of 56.4%, Skoda vehicles reached 18,007 vehicles an increase of 22.8%. On the VW front, the Tiguan SUV sold 11,380 vehicles, and VW delivered 12,000 Passat’s to new [...]
Infrastructure is not the problem; the entire system is the problem.
Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin and countless other Chinese cities have slowed to a crawl under the weight of inner city congestion. A lack of inner city infrastructure has been blamed, but is it really the problem? Beijing and Shanghai have some of the best elevated road systems in China, if not the world, but how [...]
China’s auto complaints grow with sales
According to the statistics from China Consumer Association, the complaints against automobiles grew most rapidly among all products last year, or 51.1% year on year, amounting to more than 14,000, a record high in the industry. China’s auto output and sales both topped 18 million units last year, setting records in the global auto industry. [...]
Chinese market may be over estimated
China has been the largest car market in the past year, overtaking the highest sales record of the USA. We have not yet seen the peak of Chinese auto sales. It is obvious that the sales will grow continuously, but the pace of growth is currently an active discussion point amongst many auto analysts. Many [...]
Geely to push forward with new car line up in 2011
When Geely launched their Emgrand, Englon and Gleagle brands in 2010, China automotive watchers were in a state of confusion. What did Geely have to bring to the table under three new brands that they couldn’t deliver under the original and well established Geely brand? Geely went ahead with their three brand plan and knocked [...]
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