Archive for July, 2011
Audi to expand capacity to 700,000 units per year in China
FAW-Volkswagen’s general manager Mr. An Tie Cheng revealed on July 11 that Audi plans to raise its capacity in China from near 300,000 units to 700,000 units, and to increase the number of dealers from 185 to 500 by 2015. Meanwhile, Audi will launch mild hybrid versions of its full product series next year. The [...]
Mitsubishi visits Zotye – possible JV in the air
A delegation from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries recently visited Zotye according to insider information from within Zotye. The two were apparently eager to talk business and jointly held a seminar. The two sides exchange information about the R&D and manufacturing technologies like conventional energy-efficient and new energy vehicles, motor, powertrain system, metal mold, and testing equipment, [...]
Multiple Riich G3′s spotted from all angles
The Riich G3 is Chery’s first compact sedan for the Riich brand, Riich have already launch the G5 but sales seem to be quite low so far with them seldom being seen on the roads. The Riich G3 uses the same platform as the recently launched Chery E6 but has some slightly better tech under [...]
Chang-an’s compact sedan to debut in Frankfurt
Chang’an Motors are planning to debut their new compact sedan in Frankfurt later this year according to Chinese media reports. The Chang’an C201 was shown at the Shanghai Auto Show as the Chang’an Mermaid Concept Car and has since been spotted out testing: Chang’an have invested a great deal into developing their engineering capability with [...]
Hawtai’s new vice president says he will stay there for at least five years
After changing six top executives in the past nine years, Hawtai Motors embraced the new management team recently. The company’s new vice president Hou Haijing accepted an interview and answered many hot questions. Hou Haijing worked at Shanghai GM and Foton before he joined Hawtai as vice president on June 27. He said they will [...]
Mercedes to invest 30 billion in Chinese market
Mercedes are gearing up to take on the Chinese market in a full on assault on the luxury market, Audi have so far been the leaders in the premium market but may expect some serious competition from Mercedes over the next 24 months. Mercedes are planning to invest 30 billion RMB into the Chinese market [...]
GM to invest 7 billion RMB in expanding capacity at Shenyang Factory
GM’s Bei Sheng plant in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, is about to gain from a 7 billion RMB upgrade over the next few years. The factory expansion will take GM’s production capacity to a new high in China. GM’s plans for the factory expansion have already been approved by the Ministry of Environment and will [...]
Dongfeng Peugeot 508 launched in China
Peugeot’s last mid size sedan was a sales disaster, the 505 was launched into China via joint venture between Guangzhou Auto and Peugeot in the late 90′s, it appeared that neither company were quite ready for the market with Peugeot being a little green behind the ears in China and Guangzhou Auto only just been [...]
Chinese made Audi A6L to launch in early 2012
The Chinese business and civil service communities were obviously exited yesterday when news of the new Audi A6L being launched in China was aired. The A6L is a staple of government departments and business users across China where it is often used as a chauffeured vehicle, with extra room in the back for business users, [...]
Beijing to take 400,000 old cars off its road and introduce Euro5 as emission standard
Beijing Municipal Government is about to eliminate 400,000 cars from its roads this year in another round of anti car policies, it will also introduce the Euro5 emission standard as a base standard for all cars sold in the city. Beijing has suffered from terrible pollution over the past 60 years since the northern city [...]
Next generation Camry slightly leaked
There are only a few cars in the market that can gather media attention like the Carmy, as soon as a new generation or even a rumor of a new generation coming out then you can guarantee that there will be a great media attention. There is no difference with for the next generation with [...]
Is this a QQ3 Sports?
As mentioned many times on China Car Times the rapidly aging Chery QQ3 will be getting a minor update for 2011/12 and a new generation of car for 2012/13, the below model appears to be the aforementioned 2011/12 facelift model complete with a sports license plate holder. We’re not entirely sure which part makes it [...]
China’s auto market expects positive June growth as Japanese automakers recover
The Chinese market benefited from the recovery of Japanese automakers’ production in the Chinese market in June which was largely accredited with being behind the growth in the market. Major foreign automakers such as GM, Hyundai, Nissan and PSA all achieved positive growth in June. Rao Da, secretary general of China Passenger Car Association, told [...]
BYD Auto Finance JV plan aborted, may hurt investor confidence
After it’s A shares rose nearly 70% in the past four days, BYD released an announcement on its abnormal stock price fluctuation on the evening of July 5th, saying that there was no undisclosed major issues that should be disclosed. Notably, BYD also released a piece of bad news. The joint venture contract signed with [...]
90% of commercial vehicles on sale don’t meet China’s IV emission standard
China started implementing its national IV emission standard for gasoline-powered vehicles from July 1st. It has little impact on passenger vehicle makers, because most of the passenger vehicles available in the market have reached the national IV emission standard. Besides, many cities had implemented the standard earlier. The barriers are in the fuel quality and [...]
BYD F3 facelift model shown to the ‘net ahead of time
BYD’s sales figures have gone south for yet another month, and it appears that one why plan to counter the sales nose dive is with an improved F3. The F3 was China’s best selling car at one point, but it did get old fast. BYD later introduced the L3 and G3 models which were further [...]
China car market shows suprising growth in June
From Reuters: Car sales in China rose 6.2 percent in June from a year earlier, reversing a decline in May, helped in part by the improved availability of Japanese cars as automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp gradually recovered lost output. The world’s largest auto market will likely remain sluggish in the summer followed by [...]
The rise of the otherside of car culture – Dogging in China.
The Chinese car market is headline news across the world, just over 30 years ago people were barely making a living in China but within a generation China has leapfrogged the world’s top economy and is currently sitting on America’s coat tails and has the potential to become the world’s biggest economy in the next [...]
Are SAIC shopping for GKN?
Reuters seems to think so: Shares in GKN rose 4 percent to 246.9 pence in strong volume on Thu rsday, with traders citing talk of bid interest for the UK auto and aerospace parts maker. Two traders cited Chinese automaker SAIC Motor Corp as a possible bidder with a price being touted around 350 pence [...]
Citic DiCastal Wheel Manufacturing Co buys German casting group
Citic Dicastal Wheel Manufacturing Co. agreed to buy German car part supplier KSM Castings Gruppe, the Chinese company’s first acquisition outside its home market. Citic will purchase Hildesheim, Germany-based KSM Castings from Cognetas LLP, a private-equity company, the Chinese company said in an e-mailed statement today. KSM, which employs about 2,700 people, makes components for [...]
Twitter!
