Author Archive
Tired of life in Shanghai, Ferrari FF self immolates
A Ferrari FF officially ended its life in Shanghai over the weekend, the four seater was cruising through Shanghai’s Shi Bo Avenue when smoke began to pour out of the car along with hot fiery flames, it wasn’t long before Shanghai’s finest arrived on the scene and extinguished the flames but it was all too [...]
Young man crashes Lancer into Rolls Royce, gets 800,000RMB repair bill
Crashing your first car is a right of passage for every young man, you either scratch your rust bucket beauty or you do something completely crazy and jump your car like it’s the General Lee, anyone who says they never had a scratch or a ding is likely a liar or lives in an extremely [...]
Cadillac XTS Testing in China
The XTS has already had its North American unveiling, but we can be among the first to unveil it in China. The front wheel and all wheel drive XTS is based on the stretched Epsillon II platform which underpins the strong selling Buick Lacrosse. The XTS is expected to have its official unveiling at the [...]
KPMG: The Chinese are coming, and they want market share
From KMPG: Nine of the top twenty global automotive manufacturers expected to increase global market share by 2016 come from China, according to KPMG’s annual Global Automotive Executive Survey. Chinese auto companies such as Geely, SAIC and Chery are focusing their sights on the global car market with vehicles that are becoming technologically competitive. “The [...]
GM carries out tests on Chevrolet Cruze models due to consumer radiation concerns
Shanghai GM announced the results of third party tests on automatic Chevrolet Cruze models earlier today, rumors on the internet indicated that the Cruze, one of China’s best selling compact cars with sales often in excess of 20,000 units per month, was developing electromagnet radiation via the automatic gearbox on the 1.6L model. In the [...]
1.6L Mitsubishi Lancer to launch in China
SouEast-Mitsubishi are planning to boost their China sales with the introduction of a 1.6L Lancer, the eighth generation Lancer was first introduced in 2009 and has not had the sales success that was initially hoped. First engine offerings were 1.8L and 2.0L engines mated to CVT or manual gearboxes, but it is thought that the [...]
Beijing’s Second Hand Car Market Picks Up
Want to buy a car in Beijing? You’d better win the license plate lottery. Want to sell your car in Beijing? You’d better be able to transfer your existing car to a new title, or you’re out of luck. The Municiple Government limited new car sales in Beijing to just 20,000 units per month at [...]
India Capacity Glut gives Clues to China’s Future
India has often been painted as the ‘next China’ in terms of auto sales, the sub continents auto sales reached new highs during 2009-2010 but sales slowed slightly in 2011 which has Reuters in a flap over a potential capacity glut. India runs on a slightly different method to the rest of the world, with [...]
Audi readies China for new A6L, media excited
Since the introduction of the A6L into China in the early 2000’s the A6 was bought largely by government fleets which take ministers from meeting to meeting to dinner in comfort and relative anonymity thanks to jet black window tints. The new A6L will be launched in the coming weeks according to Chinese media sources [...]
SEAT Leon to hit the market in March
March 22nd has been set as the day for Seat to say hello to the Chinese market at long last, the Spanish brand was unveiled in April 2011 and again at the Guangzhou Auto Show. The Seat Leon has been pushed forward as the first Seat to be sold in China with the Ibiza coming [...]
Beijing Auto’s All Electric Saab based car shown naked
What is a Saab by another name? It’s a BAIC, and what we have here is a BAIC 9-3, although it won’t be called the 9-3 come launch time. Saab sold the last generation 9-3 and 9-5 platform to Beijing Auto Industry Corporation in late 2010 for 195 million USD, along with several different engines [...]
Guangzhou-Mitsubishi to reveal joint venture in September 2012
Mitsubishi’s auto division hangs by a thread, European sales are collapsing fast, their Dutch factory is on the market for a mere Euro and exports from Japan make their prices uncompetitive when compared to its rivals that have adopted Chinese production or produce in regional countries such as Korea. Mitsubishi’s current joint venture with SouEast [...]
Guangzhou to ban long speeches
So China Car Times is 200% automotive related, but sometimes we have to report on cultural issues as well, this report from Guangzhou via the UK’s Telegraph newspaper is nothing but great news for Automotive journalists across China. It seems that Guangzhou are pioneering the way speeches will be given, and will be cutting them [...]
BYD’s TIGER car doing the test runs
BYD’s partnership with Daimler seems to be gaining ground fast, the partnership was barely announced several months ago but the company have already got a road testing car out on the streets. Here’s what we know: It is based on the Mercedes B200 platform, the electric know how comes via the BYD E6 which should [...]
Tianjin Xiali ‘something’ spy shots
Chinese media are reporting that this is the Tianjin Xiali R008, but we’re not quite sure what it is supposed to be. Its half SUV, its half hatchback, we guess its a crossover. The front end seems to be quite big and built up where as the side profile is somewhat anemic in contrast to [...]
Zhongxing C11 gets face lift ahead of launch
The Zhongxing crossover was not exactly a knockout stunner when pictures of the car were leaked to the world in mid 2011, in fact it was quite revolting. However, these pictures from Zhongxing (again, leaked) seem to show a much improved vehicle, the awful Jeep inspired front end has been replaced with something wouldn’t look [...]
Ford Sales Dip Slightly in Jan 2012
Ford’s China sales dipped slightly in the opening month of 2012 due to the Chinese new year celebrations which shortened the month as dealers were closed and staff returned home for the holidays. Ford’s sales fell to 30,976 units in Jan 2012, where as Jan 2011 saw sales as high as 53,340 in January 2011, [...]
Imported Vehicle Sales expected to reach one million units in 2012
The Chinese thirst for imported vehicles remained insatiable in 2011 with over 1 million vehicles being imported into the country, but when you subtract the number of vehicles which received license plate numbers we are left with 820,000 vehicles – the other imported vehicles likely being made up of off road vehicles, and machinery such [...]
GM January 2011 Sales Down 8% on Year on year sales but up Month to Month
GM’s January sales were celebrated as the second best ever on record according to figures released yesterday, the American company sold 246,654 cars in January. GM cites multiple issues for the lull in sales, with the major reason being 3 less car buying days in January thanks to the early arrival of the Chinese new [...]
Youngman still in the bidding for Saab’s Phoenix platform
Chinese media reports from earlier this week indicate that Saab’s wares are still up for grabs and Youngman is leading the chase. Why does Youngman still want to have a part in this charade? Because Youngman’s original partner signed up with Hawtai, who originally signed up with Saab. Should Youngman be without a partner to [...]
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