Archive for July, 2011
Etios for China?
According to a Reuters report, Toyota are considering producing the Etios mini car for the Chinese market, the Etios of course being a developing market car. Now China already has the Vios which is also a developing market car, so could the Etios be placed under the Vios and be part of a seperate brand? [...]
Chinese EV’s are worse for the environment than their petrol equivalents
According to Environmental Finance: Running an electric vehicle in China would emit more greenhouse gases than its petrol-fuelled equivalent, according to an expert in emissions reduction projects. Despite the country’s expertise in electric vehicles and its growing manufacturing base – Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn only this week said it is ready to build an electric [...]
MG3 – in review
We finally got our hands on the MG3 some 4 months after it hit the market in China and 7 months after it was unveiled at the Guangzhou Auto Show. At the Guangzhou Auto Show we got our first taste of what the MG3 was all about, and we left unimpressed: the plastics were cheap, [...]
Next generation Ford Focus sedan sighted in China
For Ford, the Focus is quite simply its bread and butter car and without it Ford would be in a much dire a situation in the Chinese market. The Focus sells in excess of 10,000 units per month on a regular basis and has become the go to car for any budding middle class Chinese [...]
Beijing may issue a blacklist of license lottery winners
The quotas of the first group of license lottery winners came to their deadline on July 26. It is estimated that about 1,000 lottery winner are unused and have not yet purchased vehicles. The authorities are studying to add the unused ones to the August quotas and a blacklist of those license lottery winners who [...]
Dongfeng Nissan JV to focus on joint brands
Dongfeng Motor Co., a joint venture between Nissan Motor Co. and Dongfeng Motor Group Co., released on July 26 its new business plan for 2011-2015. The company plans to invest 50 billion yuan during the period to enhance its manufacturing, products, R&D, human resources, and environment protection. It will launch 30 new models and increase [...]
China’s auto exports reached record high in H1
Affected by the market slowdown in H1, the domestic sales of China’s homegrown auto brands also decreased. According to the statistics from China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the sales of homegrown passenger vehicle brands in H1 declined 0.8% from a year earlier, and their market shares decreased nearly 3% from a year earlier. However, their [...]
Youngman and Pangda submit case for Saab to NDRC
Saab and Pangda have finally come forth with a plan to save Saab from the history books, the plan has not yet been made public but will be submitted to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) within the next 30 days. The NDRC is the all powerful body that oversees all major business developments [...]
Opel’s baby SUV spotted testing in China
Opel’s latest baby SUV which is supposedly based on the same platform as the Opel Corsa has been spotted out testing just a few days after we posted renderings of what a future SUV may look like. Size wise the mini SUV is expected to be on par with the Qashqai and is obviously smaller [...]
Greatwalls SC6 SUV
The SC6 SUV was first unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show in April last year in concept form, however this particular model is practically heading down the production lines at Great Wall’s Bao Ding plant after our most recent visit to their factory. The SC6 has been sent to the Chinese patent office ahead of [...]
Jeep Patriot hits the market in China – priced at 230,000rmb and rising
Chrysler are aiming to up their so far mediocre efforts in the Chinese market with the introduction of a series of new vehicles. Chrysler’s Jeep brand has so far performed very well in the Chinese market especially the Wrangler series, but with introduction of the facelift Compass and today’s launch of the Patriot Jeep sales [...]
Nissan to invest 50 billion RMB into Chinese market
From China Daily: Nissan Motor Co’s joint venture with Dongfeng Motor (Group) Co, the largest Sino-foreign auto partnership, on Monday announced in Beijing that it plans to invest billions of US dollars and double its annual sales over the next five years. The 50-50 joint venture, Dongfeng Motor Co Ltd, said it will invest 50 [...]
Tiguan to get a facelift and 1.4TSI engine in the China
The Tiguan has been a major hit for Shanghai VW since it was first introduced last year, the car first came to the Chinese market as an imported model but the car was later put into production locally where it became very popular very quickly with long lead times and some dealers increasing the pricing. [...]
BYD-Daimler’s first car hits the patent office
BYD and Daimler signed a joint venture several months ago with plans to build a new brand which would utilize BYD’s electrical know how and Daimler’s automotive engineering skills and would focus solely on building new energy cars. The two have pushed a design to the Chinese patent board which of course was leaked in [...]
Subaru XV revealed via patent office leak
The Subaru XV will be produced in China via the still unofficially announced joint venture between Subaru and Chery in 2012 and should sit under the Forester in terms of product placement according to media reports. Chinese consumers have already seen the XV in concept form at the Shanghai Auto Show earlier this year where [...]
BMW’s stretched 3-series readying for the Chinese market
The biggest problem that BMW and Mercedes have had in the Chinese market is that their basic sedan offerings in the 3-Series and C-class are just too short and thus are only good for home use, on the other hand the Audi A4L became the perfect vehicle for home and business use with plenty of [...]
Volkswagen Group China plans to go west after progress in southern China
Karl-Thomas Neumann, president and CEO of Volkswagen Group China, recently announced his first strategic plan for Chinese market since he took the position, i.e. Go West strategy. Volkswagen Group China has made progress in the southern Chinese market. Its market shares in southern China increased 1.3% from a year earlier in the first five months [...]
Shanghai may reduce or exempt license fee for New Energy Vehicles
The related contents of the New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Planning are spreading in China’s auto industry before being issued and implemented by the government. According to the planning, China will invest more than 100 billion yuan in building an industry chain for new energy vehicles. In order to achieve the goal, the government will [...]
GWM releases final Hover H6 pictures
The Hover H6 is the first new Hover from Great Wall that is not based around a facelift of the original Hover H3, the H6 is going to be a city-fied car that has a greater focus on its handling rather than its offroad ability when it finally makes it to the roads. Chinese consumers [...]
Brilliance 530 to launch at end of August
Brilliance took a time out in 2010 and 2011 to focus on new core technologies and developing a new range of vehicles that should considerably boost their sales over the next few months. The short term focus for Brilliance will be bringing the 530 sedan and their new small SUV to the market, the 530 [...]
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