Why Chinese automakers are setting up shop in Brazil

Exports: A Possible Solution Chinese brands struggled at home in 2011, losing market share to foreign brands. The outlook is rather bleak, so the answer to some is to expand outward. They have been slowly making inroads into new markets everywhere in the world. It goes without saying that the most important foreign market would [...]

High-speed rail in China and its impact on cars

China is about to start commercial operation of their newest high-speed rail line, the Beijing-Shanghai line. The 1318 km (819 mi) long line is the world’s longest and will feature Chinese-made rolling stock. China Railways’ CRH380A is capable of zipping through at speeds of up to 380 km/h (236 mph), which would make this also the world’s [...]

BYD and Daimler sign joint-venture agreement

It was seen here before, but now it’s officially official: BYD and Daimler signed a joint-venture agreement to develop electric car(s) for the Chinese market.

The new company, called Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co. Ltd will owned 50:50 by BYD and Daimler. The two companies will invest RMB 600 million (about 88 million USD) to form the new joint-venture, headquartered in Shenzhen, the same city as BYD.

Diversification Now: Wuling and King Long to make passenger cars

The Chinese auto market is booming, and everyone wants a (bigger) piece of the pie. Following the footsteps of JAC, one of China’s largest commercial vehicles makers, Wuling and King Long are planning to enter the passenger car market. SAIC-GM-Wuling so far has been mainly selling minivans and light commercial vehicles and actually has been [...]

Brilliance opens European headquarters, to resume activities

Just a couple of weeks ago, a rumor about Brilliance abandoning the European market spread online. The media jumped the gun on the story. Brilliance’s distributor in Europe, HSO Motors had declared bankruptcy a year earlier and it appeared that one of the first Chinese forays into the European market had not completely failed, in spite of claims that Brilliance wasn’t giving up just yet.

Editorial: The Media Onslaught on China’s Quality Report

A “report” initially published by Gasgoo has been widely circulated around the Internet. As a result, we have been graced with punchlines such as “Chinese automakers still can’t lick quality problems” from USAToday, and also Autoblog‘s “Chinese car quality complaints on the rise”. Because there’s nothing like good, old fashioned China bashing, right? Unfortunately, due [...]

Feel the sting: CH Auto Aculeus Concept

CH Auto is a design house based in Beijing, and has shown us the Scorpio concept in the 2008 Beijing Auto Show. They are back this year with an updated version of the Scorpio, named after the sting in a scorpion – “Aculeus”. Design-wise it’s easy to “see” hints of Ferrari, Maserati, BMW, Aston Martin [...]

Beijing Auto Show: The New Cars

The Beijing Auto Show will officially being tomorrow, April 23rd. Dozens of automakers and hundreds of cars will be waiting for their chance to shine. Here is a brief list of new (some are not so new) cars that will be shown in Bejing. Click on the links for more info: AnalystWebsite – More Posts

Guangzhou to produce self-branded cars this year

Guangzhou Auto Group (GAIG), which has joint ventures with Honda and Toyota, is poised to become a major player in the Chinese auto industry. GAIG announced a merger with Gonow this week, having already taken Changfeng a year ago. Part of the strategy to accomplish this goal  involves the launch of a self developed brand, [...]

Huatai’s B21 and B11 sedans for Beijing

Huatai (or Hawtai) will attempt to get into the highly competitive luxury car market in China. Apparently they will do so sticking with the Bentley look-alike grille, as seen in their entire lineup. We’ve seen their SUV already. Huatai is also going to show in Beijing their new sedans, the B21 and the B11, which [...]

JAC to show new MPV and SUV in Beijing

JAC will show in Beijing their new MPV, the Refine IV. The production version is significantly different from the arguably better looking concept shown a couple years ago. It has been made bigger to increase interior room: 5100 x 1840 x 1970 mm, with a 3800mm wheelbase. It comes with a 2.0TCI engine, producing 177hp [...]

IAT concepts for the 2010 Beijing Autoshow

Hello folks! It’s me, the Analyst. I am the newest editor on CCT, and I’ll be here to help Ash with the site. I am still familiarizing myself with WordPress, so please have a little patience…  IAT-auto, which introduced the Wufeng concept back in 2006, is coming back to Beijing this year. With designs “inspired by [...]