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Bentley hires new man to oversee Chinese market
Bentley China are having a restructure of their Chinese market activities, the German owned brand cleared sales of over 1800 units to the Chinese market, which includes the Greater China areas of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, in 2011 and is on track to boost its sales once again in 2012. Bentley’s China activities are [...]
Volvo to set up joint venture with Geely in China
It was initially reported that Volvo would be able to enter the Chinese market with its own production facilities as an independent company owing to its Chinese ownership at the hands of Geely, however according to our information the Chinese government still regards Volvo as a foreign company and requires it to have a partner [...]
Lamborghini sees Super Car sales slowing in 2012
From Bloomberg: Lamborghini SpA (LAM), maker of the $1 million Aventador LP 700-4, said industry sales of ultra-luxury sports cars may slow as signs that China’s economy is weakening puts off some buyers. “If you look at the economy right now, there may be some uncertainty to make people wait a little,” Christian Mastro, Lamborghini’s [...]
Saying Goodbye to Fake Cars with Education
No matter how many articles we run on talented Chinese designers or world class Chinese design firms that we highlight it seems that it only takes one company to clone a famous Western truck and we’re back to square one in terms of development. Although the majority of famous automotive design and engineering schools are [...]
FAW’s first Olay model ready to roll
FAW’s Oley model is apparently ready to role according to these pictures, the new brand from FAW will be aimed squarely at the youth market and those looking to get their first car. The Oley will sit alongside the Xiali brand which will make it yet another economy brand from FAW. This is not the [...]
Jaguar Land Rover to land in Changshu, Jiangsu province with Chery
According to media reports from auto.163.com, who are in turn quoting a realtor that has been helping JLR officials find suitable housing the in the Changshu area, Changshu city has become the staging area for JLR in China. Changshu has become quite the hub of automotive manufacturing over the past few years, the sleepy Jiangsu [...]
Renault coming to China with electric vehicles
Carlos Ghosn knows that the writing is on the wall, if you want to succeed you have to enter China but getting into China is a whole different story in 2012. When the French car maker initially entered China as the partner to San Jiang Motors in the late 1990′s entry into the Chinese market [...]
Nissan Murano Convertible Testing in China
The Murano SUV has already entered the Chinese market and was welcomed with a very muted response, it seems Chinese consumers did not take to well to the 500,000rmb (79,000USD) price tag for the 3.5L V6 SUV, just 76 units were sold in January 2012 whilst the Murano’s rival, the Toyota Highlander cleared sales of [...]
Daimler-Foton’s First Truck is Launched
You may think that joint ventures and sub brands are limited to the passenger car market, but JV’s and sub brands have long been a staple of the Chinese trucking industry. It seems odd to say this, but Chinese branded trucks are not very good, service operators such as logistics companies demand that their trucks [...]
Baojun 630 hatchback road testing in the wild
The Baojun 630 has so far been one of the better selling sub brand vehicles in the Chinese market, sales in January reached 9006 units whilst December 2011 sales were at 8019 units – showing that the car does have some strong potential, over the same period Guangzhou-Honda’s sub brand, Li Nian, sold just [...]
Brazil backs off on taxes on imported vehicles
Brazil is a big ‘potential’ market for world auto makers, especially Chinese auto makers who are betting big on the South American state in 2012. Brazil put forward plans to ease in taxes on Chinese made cars over the course of 2012 but now it seems that Brazil has backed off somewhat in its plans [...]
The Spanish are here! Seat lands in China
Seat has been unveiled in China on two occasions, and the reactions have been good. Now VW have shipped the cars to China and are ready to start selling. A shipment of Spanish made Seat’s arrived in the glorious People’s Republic of China yesterday and will hit the market on March 22nd 2012. The Leon [...]
House Rep Visclosky is against Chinese tariffs on US made cars
A US politician from the House of Representatives has come out against Chinese tariffs on American made vehicles as China’s next premier Xi Jin Ping visits Iowa. For those that are not in the loop China slapped down multiple tariffs on US made vehicles earlier this year which made the price of US made vehicles [...]
VW to begin producing EV’s in China in 2014
VW’s EV plans have been posted to CCT on several occasions, including the introduction of a new sub brand from FAW-VW for electric vehicles and also SAIC-VW’s plans to produce electric vehicles in Western China, however this is the first time that a VW headman has come out and confirmed that VW has electric plans [...]
GM may build new 7 billion USD factory in China
GM are ready to up their game in the Chinese market, it seems that VW and GM are limited by just one constraint in the Chinese market: Production. Lead times for GM cars are apparently running high which has lead the company to look at expanding production in the Chinese market via a new 7 [...]
Subaru XV enters China market – pricing high
The latest generation of Subaru XV has finally been launched in China, the previous generation XV was a poorly thought out last generation Subaru Impreza with plastic cladding and a hastily added roof rack – sales were not good. This time around the XV has been given some serious thought and it maybe enough to [...]
Citroen DS sales to begin in second quarter, 13 dealers to appear in the short term
Citroen’s DS range has already been shown to the Chinese populace at the Shanghai and Guangzhou Auto Shows in 2011, now they will be able to buy them at long last. The DS 4 and 5 will go on sale in the second quarter of 2011 according to Chinese media reports, prices haven’t yet been [...]
Chevrolet Malibu hits the market in China, priced to win
The Chevrolet Malibu is going to be Chevrolet’s next big winner in the Chinese market, in the next four months we suspect that the Malibu will see sales of over 10,000 units per month and within the next year it will easily be over the 15,000 per month segment. Why’s that? Because the Malibu has [...]
China to finally get the new Ford Focus in March
Ford China have been drip feeding China’s automotive consumers news of the new Focus for several months now, the car is no longer a secret since it launched in the US and EU markets quite a while ago leaving China to be one of the last market to receive the updated model. Chang’an Ford have [...]
Third Generation Prius to hit the Chinese market, but is there any hope for it?
The third generation of Prius will hit the market via Shenzhen on February 22nd this year, is Toyota trying to make a point by launching it in Shenzhen? Shenzhen is of course home to BYD, the plucky up start company that has come up against Toyota with Toyota inspired models and also aspires to be [...]
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