Archive for March, 2011
GAC’s X-Power SUV rendering leaked to the internet
Guangzhou Auto Corp (GAC) are using their recently bought Alfa Romeo 166 platform to the best of their ability, first they launched the awkwardly named (but very elegant) Trumpchi sedan and now they are planning to launch the X-Power SUV. The X-Power SUV was first unveiled last year in concept form and this is the [...]
Danes to get BYD’s electric bus
From Cri English: China’s electric vehicle maker BYD Automobile Co Ltd is set to trial a full-size, all-electric bus in the Danish capital Copenhagen, according to a news release issued by Denmark’s biggest public transport operator Movia and Denmark’s Ministry of Foreign affairs Thursday. Designed and manufactured by BYD, a leading Chinese electrical vehicle and [...]
Chery A1 to get facelift for this year
The CheryA1 is almost like Chery’s poor little orphan, it sits at the bottom of the range but is clearly a superior vehicle to the QQ range and also the Chery Riich M1/X1 but seems to garner a few sales. Here’s hoping that the below face lift will put some juice in its get up [...]
2011/2012 Nissan Tiida Spotted out, will get 1.6T
Nissan are preparing what might just be their wonder car for the next two years. Not many small displacement turbos are available in China, GM have introduced the Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T and the Buick Excelle 1.6T and VW have also introduced the 1.4TSI models into the Bora, Lavida and Golf range but these are largely [...]
BYD says goodnight to rapid growth
Despite a year-on-year growth of 42.77% in its cellphone accessories and assembly business revenue, BYD’s growth finally slowed down in 2010 due to sluggish growth of its automobile business. According to the automaker’s fiscal report for 2010, its revenues increased 18.28% from a year earlier to 46.685 billion yuan, and its net profits reduced 33.48% [...]
Who killed China Car Times?
For those of you that surf China Car Times over the weekend, the past Saturday and Sunday may have been slightly dull for you as someone killed China Car Times. When one particular user entered a comment into the system (and yes, I know who it was, but I don’t hold you personally accountable!), the [...]
Good news for Chinese auto makers – government lowers requirements for procurement lists
Authoritative sources reveal that the government vehicle purchase standard for general officials will be revised from current 2.0L model with price below 250,000 yuan down to 1.8L model with price below 180,000 yuan. It could be good news to China’s homegrown automakers, such as Chery, Geely and BYD who have been actively designing, developed and [...]
Everus S1 aiming to be ‘Chinese peoples’ car
The Everus brand is Honda and Guangzhou Auto’s self developed brand to take on the lower segment of the market, the line up will be making full use of Honda’s mature technology and will be recycling it for use within the brand. The first model to fall into the Everus brand will be the last [...]
Chery fall to 35,331 units in February but exports up
Due to the Chinese new year celebrations taking up half of the month in China and thus having the majority of dealerships closed for a period of two weeks, most car companies reported a serious decline in sales during the period, Chery was no exception and sales fell to 35,331 units. On a good note, [...]
Chinese dealerships ripping off consumers?
Auto dealerships in China are known as 4S Stores, the four S’s standing for the range of services that they offer these of course being Sales, Service, Spare Parts and Survey. The biggest problem facing Chinese car owners right now is that they feel they are wealthy enough to buy a car outright, but the [...]
Poor reliability due to immature industry
The past decade witnessed Chinese local carmakers encouraging progress in quality and performance. But some of their unreliable features are still not easy to be accepted, for example, spontaneous combustion. Geely Panda, an Aygo based cute small family car, obtained a five-star safety level from China-NCAP in late 2009. This milestone seemingly put an end [...]
Peugeot 508 spotted out testing
The soon to arrive Peugeot 508 will be the first big Peugeot to built in China since the collapse of the Guangzhou-Peugeot joint venture in the mid 90′s. Peugeot have since signed up with Dongfeng to produce their wares in the Chinese market and seem to be doing quite well with the 308 and 207 [...]
Five door Range Rover Evoque spotted in China
The Range Rover Evoque is likely to be Range Rover’s big car in the PRC, especially as the demand for smaller luxury crossovers is certainly hotting up with competition from all the major manufacturers such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Infiniti. The five door had its premier at the Guangzhou Auto Show in late 2010 [...]
Dongfeng-Yueda Kia planning own sub-brand
This report from Bloomberg via the Korea Herald seems to indicate that Kia may also be planning to start its own sub brand alongside Nissan, Honda and GM for the Chinese market. It could be that the language used is unclear (we’ve highlighted the important part) and seems to suggest further development of Kia China [...]
Hawtai Motor to push Santa Fe Diesel by hosting Fuel Efficiency Challenges
Hawtai Motor will host a series of Fuel Efficiency Challenges for the diesel Santa in more than 70 cities across the country this year, including Shenzhen, Weifang, Xiamen and Xi’an. The campaign aims to show the public the fuel efficiency of Santa Fe 2.0T Diesel. The top winner of the fuel efficiency challenge held in [...]
What’s happening at Jinbei?
Recent pictures of what appears to be a Jinbei branded Nissan NV200 have been taken and posted to the internet, provoking healthy and unhealthy discussion on the internet. It could be that Jinbei are actually planning to rip off the Nissan NV200, although that is unlikely as Jinbei/Brilliance are well known for their independent designs [...]
FAW’s C131 Sedan spotted out again, to be produced at years end
FAW are giving the Hong Qi brand another shot in the arm with yet another rehashed vehicle from one of their partners stables, this time the last generation of Audi A6 has been the willing/unwilling donor to this forthcoming model and it seems to be showing through the C131′s DNA. The C131 sedan will launch [...]
FAW-VW to produce B7 Passat in stretched form
At first it was thought that Shanghai Volkswagen would be receiving the new B7 Passat, but it seems that honor is going to First Automobile Works (FAW) who also have a partnership with VW. Although the car has only just been released in the USA, it seems that the car has been in some sort [...]
Facelift RAV4 to launch this year
The Toyota RAV4 is a major part of Toyota’s plans to boost its presence in the Chinese market place and it seems to be doing well so far, the RAV4 is produced by Toyota in partnership with First Automobile Works in Tianjin and has seen strong sales so far. For 2011/12 Toyota are planning to [...]
Sales down in February 2011 on year on year growth
From Business China: Sales of the world’s major car producers in China began to slow in February, and were significantly lower than a month earlier due to the Lunar New Year holiday.General Motors Co.’s (NYSE:GM) sales grew only 5.8% year-on-year to 184,400 units in February. That number is down 30% from January. Toyota Motor Corp. [...]
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