Author Archive
China’s MIIT plans to reduce or replace excessive capacity of steel and automobiles
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published a 2011 summer operation report of China’s industrial economy on September 13, saying that the excessive capacity caused by repeated investment in the heavy and chemical industries in recent years affects the industry’s sustained and healthy development. Meanwhile, there is a certain amount of backward capacity in [...]
Sales of homegrown brands continued with their spiralling fall in August due to policy issues
Dong Yang, vice chairman and secretary general of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, announced recently that the homegrown passenger vehicles are in a bad situation now. The sector not only saw year-on-year sales decline, but also will face huge challenges after the supportive policies expire. The CAAM statistics show that the August sales of homegrown [...]
BYD cuts jobs, and cuts internet access too.
Soon after BYD released news stating that it would cut up to 1800 members of staff, including 1000 members of its sales team, BYD apparently cut the internet in BYD offices to stop further news leaks. Chinese media are quoting one member of staff who posted on their Weibo (Chinese Twitter style service) “Redundancies are spreading to [...]
FAW-VW to develop own VW models
The 20-year-old FAW-Volkswagen joint venture is about to enter an historical turning point, that is to transform from pure introduction and production of Volkswagen’s prototype models to development of auto products based on the unique demands of Chinese consumers by 2015. The company’s executive in charge of R&D told that the company is expected to [...]
Chinese car companies see export surge and hike prices by 20% in overseas markets
An unnamed Chinese homegrown auto brand sent a group of its domestic dealers to Egypt for business exchange visits recently, Chinese dealers were surprised at the brand’s high recognition and booming sales in the North African market. Just like many popular imported models in Chinese market, price increases are quite common for the brand in [...]
Chang’an saw both business revenue and net profits down in H1
Chang’an posted its first-half fiscal report on August 29th, which shows that its business revenue in the first half decreased 12.75% from 16.627 billion yuan in the same period of last year to 14.537 billion yuan. Its net profits attributable to the shareholders of the listed company reduced 23.89% from 1.366 billion yuan in the [...]
Market share of Chinese brands falls in June, but Japanese brands increase
The latest data released by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) shows that the accumulative output and sales of China’s auto industry in the Jan-July period rose 2.33% and 3.22% from a year earlier respectively to 10,462,400 units and 10,601,800 units. The output and sales of passenger vehicles in the period hit 8,095,600 units and [...]
China’s small vehicles and homegrown brands saw the biggest sales drop in July
The data released by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) show that the country’s July auto output and sales hit 1,306,100 units and 1,275,300 units respectively, down 6.96% and 11.19% from a month earlier, up 1.26% and 2.18% from a year earlier. The auto output and sales in Jan-July period reached 10,462,400 units and 10,601,800 [...]
It’s urgent for China to create electric car charging facility standards
After the State Grid, China’s major power grid builder and operator, chose battery swap as the key means to recharge electric vehicles, China Southern Power Grid, the other power grid builder and operator in China, made the same decision. No matter it’s battery replacement or battery recharging, the non-uniform technical standards for batteries and charging [...]
China’s July auto sales declined from a month earlier
China Association of Automobile Manufacturers announced the automobile output and sales figures for July on August 10th. China’s auto output and sales in July hit 1,306,100 units and 1,275,300 units respectively, down 6.96% and 11.19% from a month earlier, up 1.26% and 2.18% from a year earlier. The auto output and sales in Jan-July period [...]
China’s midsize car segment hits seven-year itch
The Midsize car segment is usually the most profitable one in China’s auto market. The launch of Guangqi Honda’s Accord in 2003 marked a new era for the segment. Since then, the segment has seen rapid growth for more than seven years. However, the segment has experienced a rare sales decline since the start of [...]
China’s July auto sales decreased 11.19% from a month earlier to 1,275,300 units
China Association of Automobile Manufacturers released the country’s auto output and sales data for July on August 10th. China’s auto output and sales saw a month-on-month decline and a year-on-year growth in the traditional low season. The commercial vehicle sector saw bigger month-on-month decline than the passenger vehicle sector. The auto output and sales in [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Youngman and Pangda will submit Saab stake acquisition plan to NDRC within three weeks
If Saab can’t find an investor to pay its employees in two weeks, it will be forced to start liquidation process. Then its deals with Pangda and Youngman will become invalid completely, but due to restrictive policies by the Chinese government, the two Chinese companies are not allowed to make more investment to save Saab [...]
Chery’s Riich brand hitting the rough tracks in path to developing higher end brand
Riich dealerships in Beijing are closing down and withdrawing from the market, which leads to reflections over the situation of China’s high-end homegrown brands. Some people think it’s not the right time for homegrown automakers to launch high-end brands. It’s true that the homegrown brands are not so successful in their expansion to the high-end [...]
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