Author Archive
EV’s and Fuel Cell Vehicles To Be Tax Free Purchases in 2012
Pure electric and fuel cell vehicles are poor sellers in the Chinese market, in fact only Shanghai and Shenzhen have seen any sort of EV sales over the past 12 months but the rest of China seems to be a death ground for the development of a much lauded EV market. China has been labelled [...]
Maserati calls China its second biggest market – sales double in 2011
Maserati sales in China have propelled the Chinese market to become Maserati’s second biggest market, 2011 sales reached 780 units alone and represent a doubling of 2010′s efforts. The best selling cars in the Chinese market were the GranTourismo which took 57% of sales, whilst the GranCabrio took 43% of the market. SusanZhaoSusan is an [...]
First JLR-Chery car to be shown in 2015-2016
The deal between JLR and Chery which will likely see Jaguar cars being built in the Chinese market has not yet been officially signed off by the Central and Provincial Governments, although this has not stopped Chinese media speculating on the launch of a new car brand from the two companies. Three years ago Chery [...]
China’s car sales go from peak to a valley
What China’s auto industry has experienced in 2011 is quite similar to what happened seven years ago, when the industry cooled down in 2004 after soaring growth in the previous year. This year’s auto market has three major issues: Changing policies, disputes over joint brands, and challenges faced by Chinese local brands. With regards to [...]
BAIC signs letter of intent with Daimler for new energy vehicles
BAIC Group and Daimler Group signed a letter of intent on promoting their relationship to an all-round strategic partnership on November 2. The letter of intent covers group-level partnership, and promises support to each other’s further investment, discussion on further technology support and their partnership in the new energy vehicle field, in an aim to [...]
Chinese Govt may delay electric car standards
A joint survey made by the Automobile Research Institute and Gasgoo.com shows that only 23% of the industry insiders believe the industry standard for electric vehicles will be issued at the year end or early next year, and 46% of the industry insiders think differently. As many as 31% of them believe there are big [...]
Saab announces preliminary restructuring plan, aiming to turn profitable by 2014
The Swedish court dealing with Saab restructuring announced the investment plan of the concerned Chinese investors on October 31, which shows that Pangda Automobile Trade Co and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co will acquire 100% stake in Saab for 100 million euros, and the successive investment will be as high as 600 million euros. The [...]
Toyota opens R&D Center in China
The foundation laying ceremony of Toyota’s R&D center, or Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing Center (China), was held in Changshu, Jiangsu province recently. China’s authorities are not satisfied with Toyota’s development of new energy vehicles in China. Now Toyota has invested $689 million to open its fifth R&D center outside Japan, which is expected to [...]
Jaguar & Land Rover will launch joint brand; First locally-made model could be totally new
Insiders reveal that the partnership talks between Chery and Jaguar & Land Rover has achieved substantial progress after Chery’s partnership plan with Subaru was rejected. The two sides have reached agreements on many key aspects, and now they are waiting for the approval from the government authorities who are key to getting the plan approved. [...]
China’s auto sales went up while profits reduced
China’s auto sales in September rose 5.5% from a year earlier, and the auto sales in Jan-Sep period increased 3.6% from a year earlier. The industry’s year-on-year sales growth increased month after month since May. Their year-on-year sales growths in the Jun-Sep period were 1.7%, 2.5%, 4.4%, and 5.5% respectively. The sales of passenger vehicles [...]
Li Shu Fu’s new problem: How to help Volvo help Geely
It seems Geely Group’s chairman Li Shufu has not put on the agenda the question how Volvo brand will benefit or back feed Geely brand after the group acquired the European luxury brand more than one year ago. Geely hoped Volvo could drive up the brand image of Geely through the acquisition. However, it seems [...]
China to issue new rules on vehicle procurement in favor of homegrown brands
China’s latest policy on the government procurement of vehicles will be implemented soon according to media reports. According to the policy, the upper levels of the general government vehicles will be lowered from vehicles with engine size at 2.0L or below and prices below 250,000 yuan to those with engine size at 1.8L or below [...]
Wang Chuanfu: BYD will treat problems seriously when there is heavy pressure
Wang Chuanfu, president of BYD, admitted at a recent media conference that they made some strategic mistakes in the previous years, such as ignorance of product quality, and will see 2011-2012 as the adjustment period. He also said that the company’s growth slowdown in the recent two years is not a bad thing, and it [...]
China Quality Association’s survey results show complaint rate of auto users keeps rising for two consecutive years
China Quality Association and National User Committee released the 2011 China Automobile Customer Satisfaction Index (CACSI) on September 27. They reviewed the models of 120 passenger vehicle brands with strong sales in 2011 through surveys with vehicle owners. The survey finds that the proportion of the first-time new vehicle buyers reduced from 75.9% last year [...]
Chinese homegrown brands lose market share to each other
Data from China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) shows that the August sales of homegrown passenger vehicles declined 2.86% from a year earlier to 407,400 units, accounting for 37.2% of the country’s total sales of passenger vehicles, down 3.96% from a year earlier. Most of China’s homegrown brands saw their market shares down in August [...]
Honda plans to make batteries and electric motors in China to reduce hybrid costs
Following the steps of Toyota, Honda also announces its plan of making batteries and electric motors in China next year, so as to reduce the costs of hybrid vehicles and boost the sales of hybrid vehicles. Honda China’s chief Seiji Kuraishi said during an interview that it’s difficult to reduce costs by importing electric motors [...]
Shanghai-VW spawns electric sub brand to rival FAW-VW’s Kai Li electric sub brand
The new vehicle application catalog released by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) earlier today clearly shows Shanghai Volkswagen’s self-developed brand will come into being soon. Its Chinese name is 天越 (Pronounced as “Tian Yue”), and its English name is Tantos. Based on the previous spy shots and the catalog number of Tantos’ [...]
New C-NCAP rules to be implemented next July
C-NCAP, the official car testing facility in China, indicated on its website that the C-NCAP Management Rules (2012 Edition) has been released. Its evaluation procedures and standards are close to European standards, and will be implemented from July 1st, 2012. The 2012 Edition changes a lot from the previous evaluation system, collision speed and test [...]
China’s MIIT says it won’t resoirt to bailout despite auto output and sales falling to new low
China’s auto output and sales growth in the Jan-July period fell to new low in the past 10 years. The auto output and sales in the period grew only 2.3% and 3.2% from a year earlier to 10.46 million units and 10.6 million units. Different from the attitude of the concerned Chinese authorities before, the [...]
Sports style in, frumpy business style out
Cars with overly sporty styling are gaining popularity in China’s auto market. Either small cars like Smart, Beetle, and Minicooper or luxury cars like Ferrari and Bentley define their new models as featuring passionate sports style. Such a trend also prevails in the B-class car segment It’s quite apparent in the newly-launched B-class models in [...]
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