Archive for August, 2011
Audi A1 readying for launch in China, to be priced from 220,00rmb and rising
The Audi A1 has already hit the market in certain Western countries, but it has yet to take to the roads in China, but thanks to a material leak it appears that the A1 will be hitting Chinese roads in mid October. The A1 sits on the PQ25 platform which is already shared with the [...]
Chery aiming to establish Kenyan Factory
From Reuters: Chery Automobile is to become the second Chinese vehicle maker to build an assembly plant in Kenya, joining truck manufacturer Beiqi Foton Motors in a move to tap east African demand and further strengthening Chinese links with the continent. “They (Chery) are discussing with the (Chinese) government so that they can get some [...]
Xiali’s five year plan – more cars, not necessarily good ones
Xiali is China’s Skoda, that’s Skoda before VAG group took it under its own group wings. Xia Li’s have so far been Daihatsu and Toyota based cars and generally trade off a good home market in Tianjin and the fact that they make some of the cheapest cars in the market. As the Chinese government [...]
China auto market down in July (or is it?)
The Chinese Passenger Car Association has announced that the Chinese market has hit the skids in July, the biggest fall seems to be in the mini van sector. Mini vans were heavily supported in 2010 thanks to a Cars to the Countryside program which assisted rural buyers with car buying subsidies, of course as soon [...]
New Beetle spotted in China, has media excited
The old new Beetle was imported into China and largely sold to women, although there were a few guys that bought them and turned them into something you’d only see on Gran Tourismo as no real man would drive anything with a vase on the dashboard. For 2012 VW have dumped the vase and given [...]
Chinese construction firms helping out Nairobi
From the China Daily: The worst nightmare traffic jams are experienced especially during peak times, morning and evening hours, and sometimes during the day. The snarl ups have become part of Nairobi’s identity since they affect all key roads and major arteries within the central business districts and on the outskirts of the city. To [...]
Next Gen Roewe 750 spotted yet again
SAIC are not very good at keeping their new cars a secret, unless of course they like to keep the word about their next generation cars alive in the media. The 750 is based on GM’s Epsilon II platform which is shared with the Buick Lacrosse and the Regal in the Chinese and also world [...]
China’s fuel prices stay unadjusted while New York crude oil futures fall
New York crude oil futures fell more than 9% last week. Some Chinese people don’t understand why China’s fuel prices are not lowered accordingly, and thus cast doubts over the country’s fuel price adjustment system. Due to US’ debt crisis and market worries about second bottoming of Europe and US’ economy, the oil prices in [...]
Youngman plans new models for Saab
Although Saab is at a critical point between life and death, Youngman is still optimistic about its future and has put forward a 2012+ product plan for the ailing Swedish company. Huang Zhiqiang, vice president of Zhejiang Youngman Passenger Car Group, said that the first thing Youngman will do after completing the Saab acquisition is [...]
Brilliance new compact saloon has automotive press in a tizzy
Brilliance seem to have been developing a new compact sedan on the quiet over the past few months and until now has so far managed to keep the new car a secret from even the most prying of automotive journalists, of course it was the Brilliance logo on the steering wheel that gave the game [...]
BYD’s Xia Zhi Bing leaves
BYD announced on August 6th that the board had received the written resignation from the company’s vice president and general sales manager Xia Zhibing on August 5th. Xia’s resignation is due to personal reasons, and he would not hold any other positions in BYD after resignation. According to the concerned rules for listed companies, Xia’s [...]
Global automakers aim to fight over Chinese market pie by 2015
China’s auto market slowed down considerably in the first half of 2011 and grew only 3.35% from a year earlier in the first half of this year due to several unfavorable factors such as the expiration of government stimulus policies, Beijing’s license plate lottery policy, and continuous fuel price rises. Many domestic Chinese brands even [...]
GM and SAIC deepen ties, to work on engine development together
From Reuters: General Motors [GM.UL] and China’s SAIC Motor Corp (600104.SS) deepened their ties to include the joint development of small engines and transmissions as the U.S. automaker seeks to draw on the allure of the fast-growing China market ahead of a highly anticipated IPO. The agreement, announced by the two automakers in Shanghai on [...]
MG3 Crossover in the dealerships already
The MG3 hasn’t officially launched yet, but that has not stopped dealers from sending out pictures of the cars as they sit on showroom floors. The MG3 Crossover will come as a 1.5L vehicle with the same AMT gearbox as the regular version, a 1.3L will not be available. Obviously being a crossover vehicle it [...]
Where is the Chinese Tier One automotive supplier? They are on their way
Although China has a massive automotive production capacity that makes everything from the compounds that make up tires to the little bolts that hold mud flaps to your car, it has so far failed to produce a unique Tier One automotive supplier that is able to rival the likes of Bosch, Delphi or TRW. Enter [...]
GM gets its 1% back from SAIC
From Reuters: General Motors Co (GM.N) expects to conclude a deal to bring the automaker’s stake in its China joint venture back to 50 percent, Chief Executive Daniel Akerson said on Thursday.GM has told its China partner, SAIC, that it wants to buy back the 1 percent stake in Shanghai GM that it sold to [...]
China going RV Crazy (?!)
We know the SUV lifestyle is taking off in China, you have the real offroaders that go mud plugging and boulder crawling at the weekends, and you have the soccer moms that wobble all over the roads with their little emperors bouncing around on the back seats, but what we didn’t know is that the [...]
Shanghai GM to launch “Baby Antara”
An environment assessment bulletin on the website of Yantai’s environment protection bureau shows that Shanghai GM Dongyue Motors Co., Ltd. will launch a reconstruction project for GG-SUV and its variants. The GG-SUV, a compact SUV based on the same platform as Aveo, is found to be Opel’s Baby Antara. The total investment in the project [...]
CSI gap between China’s homegrown brands and overseas brands widens
J.D. Power Asia Pacific released the 2011 China Auto Industry Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) last week, which shows that the overall customer satisfaction index of China’s auto industry has reached record high due to progress in “vehicle delivery after service” and “service quality”. However, as the homegrown brands’ improvement in after-sales services is not as [...]
China’s minivan market saw sales down 11% y/y in H1
Those automakers that chose to start minivan business last year may have made a wrong decision. After rapid growth in the past two years, China’s minivan market started to fall down in the first half of this year. According to the statistics from China Passenger Car Association, the sales of minivans in the first six [...]
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