Archive for June, 2011
Driven by new energy vehicle strategy, China’s Li-ion battery industry may see explosive growth
China’s Li-ion battery industry may see explosive growth in the next three to five years due to the factors like new energy vehicle strategy, environmental problems of lead-acid batteries, and the transfer of Japan’s Li-ion battery industry to China after March 11 earthquake. The Li-ion battery manufacturers intending to attend the 3rd China (Shanghai) International [...]
Slight rhinoplasty for the FSV in 2011/12
The Brilliance FSV has been given a slight face lift for 2011/12 with the introduction of a new grill and chrome accents at the bottom to give the FSV a classier outlook for the next two years. The FSV is the sedan brother to the best selling FRV, however the FSV has failed to make [...]
Subaru to build new small SUV in China
The joint venture between Subaru and Chery is all systems go according to media reports and will be churning out a new small SUV that will sit under the Forester in the Subaru line up. Before any wild stories appear regarding what a future Subaru SUV might look like, its likely that the car in [...]
Big difference between posted sales results and registration reflects BYD’s anxiety
BYD’s posted sales results for Jan-Apr are 31,233 units more than the vehicle registration in the period. It has been an open secret that BYD always posts higher sales than vehicle registration. If the posted sales results are true, it means BYD’s dealers are suffering heavy inventory pressure. According to BYD’s sales report, its sales [...]
Chinese electric car industry is revving for prime time, but stuck in neutral
By July 2010 China had over 95,000 gas stations across the country, 50% of them belonged to two companies; Petro China and Sinopec which according to Chinese reports has lead to the petroleum industry having a monopoly over fuel choices in China. On June 1st 2010 the Ministries of Finance, Science and Industry and Communications [...]
Greatwall’s Tianjin factory to come online soon and will focus on export market
The first phase of Great Wall’s Tianjin production base is scheduled to start operation this August, with an annual capacity of 250,000 vehicles. With an investment of about 8.5 billion yuan, Great Wall’s new production base in Tianjin will be constructed in three phases. The overall capacity totals 800,000 vehicles. It will make cars, SUVs, [...]
Renault Fluence to launch on June 9th
Renault are still out in the cold in China, they have no local partners and talks with Dongfeng have been running on for years with no actual break-throughs with regards to localized production. However, with the RMB growing in strength it has become quite easy for Renault to rely on its partners at Samsung in [...]
When is a new Polo not a new Polo?
The New Polo Sedan has officially gone on sale earlier today at the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macau Auto Show, but according to Chinese media reports the new Polo sedan is not entirely new at all. The Polo hatchback hit the market just over a month ago and seems to be flying off the dealership forecourts, but as [...]
Toyota sales down 35% year on year in May
The Chinese auto market is waiting with baited breath for the release of may’s auto sales statistics, should they be down across the board then it might be an interesting year for the Chinese car industry. Toyota are reporting a sales drop of 35% in year on year sales, but this may have been due [...]
Chinese market to grow by 15% per anum until 2016
The below article doesn’t give a reason as to why 2016 is the peak year for Chinese automotive sales, but there is still plenty of potential for car sales to dip this year rather than hitting the golden goal of 15%. From AFP: China’s auto market, which witnessed a marked slowdown at the beginning of [...]
Chinese government trying to count its cars
From Xinhua: The Chinese government is carrying out a nationwide investigation into the status of official motor vehicles in a bid to reform the way in which they are purchased and used. Official vehicles will be surveyed and checked for registration as part of the campaign. Data collected during the survey will be used to [...]
Pangda grabs China Ssangyong dealership rights
Although ‘Old Man Pang’ has only just stepped off the plane from Sweden he is eagerly setting up new deals to expand the Pangda empire. Pangda’s latest attention grabber is Ssangyong, Pangda have gained the rights to sell the brand in Northern China and are hoping to improve the brands standing in the Chinese market. [...]
Saab scores another 22 million USD from Pangda for 630 more cars
From the Washington Post: Chinese investor Pang Da has placed a $22 million (€15 million) cash order for 630 cars from Spyker NV’s ailing unit Saab, the Swedish car maker said Wednesday. The new order comes after an earlier one for 1,300 vehicles as part of last month’s pact under which Pang Da agreed to [...]
Chevrolet Captiva to be made in China
The latest generation of Captiva was just launched in China at last months Shanghai Auto Show and will hit the market in mid June according to Chevrolet. The Capita is currently imported from Korea but will eventually be made in China which should make it even more price competitive in China. Although the model is [...]
Riich G2 spied out on the roads
The Riich brand from Chery was supposed to be Chery’s shot at a premium brand, but they appear quite content on adding low cost cars to the premium brand which seems to be diluting the brand somewhat, the first low cost car to hit the Riich label was the Riich M1 which was priced from [...]
Dongfeng to release civillian version of Dongfeng ‘Hummer’
After the Humvee made its debut in the first Gulf War, China looked at its own poor rag tag fleet of Beijing 2020 Jeeps that were based on World War Two Soviet designs and decided that it need its own fleet of kick ass High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) to deliver its own brand [...]
Chery to launch new brand with Quantum LLC, Qoros to be born soon.
The dust has not yet settled between Chery and Subaru, a contract has been signed between the two but details of the deal have not yet been released to the public, it’s likely that the Forrester will be introduced into China in the next 12 to 18 months as a locally made vehicle but Chery [...]
MG3 Xross Sighted Out Again
The MG3 has only just hit the market but SAIC are readying to follow it up with the oddly spelled Xross, which is apparently the new age way of writing Crossover. The original Rover Streetwise gave birth to the crossover rage, but the Xross reminds us why it was all such a bad idea. Power [...]
Brilliance FRV Crossover – packing a 1.5T engine
Do you want a bubbly little crossover? Want to push 200Nm of torque through the front wheels? Then you need the facelift Brilliance FRV. For the 2012 model Brilliance have given the Crossover a slight make over and fitted their new 1.5T engine under the hood. The 1.5T’s actual bhp output is not overly impressive [...]
Citroen and Chang’an receive official approval for their joint venture
On May 24th 2011 PSA and Citroen received official government approval for their new joint venture which will be based in Shenzhen. The unusually long approval process will come as a warning to other foreign car producing companies that are wishing to enter the Chinese market at a time when the market is slowing down, [...]
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