Archive for August, 2011
Why I still haven’t quite thrown the towel in on driving in China
Nearly a year ago I wrote a brief article on my frustration on driving in the People’s Republic, roads had become to clustered, too many new cars and equally new drivers had taken to the roads and drove like they were riding a bicycle. It was too much to bare when living in Qingdao, a [...]
Hong Qi’s HQE/C131 not consigned to the scrap heap just yet
Obama has his Beast and Chairman Hu has his HQE which he used to review the troops in Beijing in late 2009. The HQE was designed to reflect the past and the future, the HQE’s front end took on a noticably antique tone when it first aired in the capital, powered by FAW’s self designed [...]
Lifan’s 720 sighted ahead of time, actually looking pretty
Lifan are a relative newcomer to the car making game and for the longest of time they have been focusing on markets in second, third and fourth tier cities throughout China knowing full well that developed markets such as those in Beijing and Shanghai would not accept their products, but it seems that the time [...]
Nissan Quest MPV comes to China – priced high, very high
The Nissan Quest MPV is already receiving strong reviews in the US and Canadian auto press as the gigantic MPV has only just launched in the North American market, the Chinese market is on the verge of receiving the Quest in the next few days. Certain Nissan dealers that sell imported models have already been [...]
Next generation Peugeot 308 ready to roll
The Chinese market is a strange place for Peugeot, they roll the old with the new and hope it works – see the odd Pug 207 at the bottom of the ladder that’s rocking a 208 face but is actually a 207, then there’s the saloon version, and on top of that there is the [...]
XiaLi’s WeiZhi hops on the Crossover wagon
Crossovers are all the rage in China and often outsell their none crossover rivals by a fair old pace, of course the latest trend is to hop on the bandwagon by raising your models suspension by an inch or so and adding black cladding around the car to give it that offroad look and feel [...]
Want a 5 door Wrangler? Cant afford one? Wait for BAIC’s B70 SUV
BAIC has already shown off its B40 SUV at other auto shows, the 3 door SUV bares more than a striking resemblance to the 3 door Jeep Wrangler, but that maybe a coincidence as Beijing Auto did work with Jeep since 1984, but the leak of these B70 pictures seem to show that BAIC have [...]
One Market – Two Camry’s
China is big on its one country two systems to describe the relationship between Hong Kong and Mainland China, but the a similar ethos is played out in the car market with car companies, particularly foreign car companies, eager to sell multiple generations of cars alongside each other. The most famous must be VW as [...]
Toyota to launch Mark X ZiO in China
Toyota have already launched the latest generation of the Mark X into China, where it is more commonly known as the Toyota Reiz. The 2.5V6 RWD sedan is priced in the low 200,000rmb area which makes it very affordable and highly competitive against other sedans such as the Buick Regal and Skoda Octavia VRS. The [...]
Hyundai to launch Sonata 2.0T next year
The Hyundai Sonata was never the top of any drivers new car list when it came to car shopping, it was always the second or third option to the Honda Accord or the Toyota Camry but that seems to have changed in 2011. The new Sonata is a thing of relative beauty when compared to [...]
Geely eager to enter the UK market
Whilst other Chinese manufacturers are busy entering developing markets, only SAIC have been able to grab the bull by the horns and enter a mature Western market with its products. The MG6 launched in the UK earlier this year and was quickly followed up by the launch of the MG6 Saloon which is essentially the [...]
FAW-VW to start working on own SUV to rival the Tiguan
The VW Tiguan has become a hot commodity in the Chinese market, the compact SUV has become one of the best selling SUV’s in the Chinese market over the past few months despite the car being a relative new comer to the Chinese market. The Tiguan was initially imported into China and then built locally [...]
Peugeot 3008 to be made in China in 2012
The Peugeot 3008 has found itself with limited success in the Chinese market since its launch earlier this year, the 3008 is imported into the Chinese market which has resulted in relatively high prices when compared to other SUV’s on the Chinese market. The 3008 starts at just over 240,000rmb for the base 1.6 turbo [...]
Buick Regal GS is expected to be sub 300,000rmb when launched
The Buick Regal GS is expected to launch later this year with September being touted as a possible launch date, the GS will be be made in China and will make full use of the 2.0T Direct Injection engine that is currently used in the Cadillac SLS, the only four cylinder Caddy to date. The [...]
Beijing Auto’s C71 concept comes alive as the C70G
Beijing Auto aired the C71 concept at the Beijing Auto Show over a year ago, but they do not seem any closer to putting the car into production, until now of course. The C71 was put on show to highlight what Beijing Auto could potentially do to the Saab 95 platform that they bought from [...]
Market share of Chinese brands falls in June, but Japanese brands increase
The latest data released by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) shows that the accumulative output and sales of China’s auto industry in the Jan-July period rose 2.33% and 3.22% from a year earlier respectively to 10,462,400 units and 10,601,800 units. The output and sales of passenger vehicles in the period hit 8,095,600 units and [...]
China’s small vehicles and homegrown brands saw the biggest sales drop in July
The data released by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) show that the country’s July auto output and sales hit 1,306,100 units and 1,275,300 units respectively, down 6.96% and 11.19% from a month earlier, up 1.26% and 2.18% from a year earlier. The auto output and sales in Jan-July period reached 10,462,400 units and 10,601,800 [...]
It’s urgent for China to create electric car charging facility standards
After the State Grid, China’s major power grid builder and operator, chose battery swap as the key means to recharge electric vehicles, China Southern Power Grid, the other power grid builder and operator in China, made the same decision. No matter it’s battery replacement or battery recharging, the non-uniform technical standards for batteries and charging [...]
Besturn B90 sighted with plenty of camo
The Besturn B90 will be FAW’s largest sedan under the Besturn brand and will compete with the likes of the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry in the mid size sedan segment. However, it should be noted that other mid size cars from other Chinese car makers such as Geely’s EC8, Chery’s G6 and BYD’s F6 [...]
Infiniti chasing Audi and Lexus in China
Good luck Infiniti, you are going to need it: From Bloomberg: Nissan Motor Co. plans to quadruple Infiniti’s share of the Chinese luxury-auto market within five years as it rushes to make up a “ridiculous” amount of time lost to Volkswagen AG’s Audi and Toyota Motor Corp. (7203)’s Lexus. Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn has [...]
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