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Archive for the 'Beijing-Benz DaimlerChrysler Automotive' Category

Beijing Auto Works: We make badass SUVs.

Published by Ash April 25th, 2008 in Beijing Auto Works, Beijing-Benz DaimlerChrysler Automotive and Chinese Car News. 7 Comments

Beijing Auto Works showed off a few concept SUVs at the Beijing Motor Show, leaving China Car Times quite speechless. Their range of motors seems to have been inspired by their Chrysler Jeep joint venture, although, BAW’s designs are clearly a lot better than their partners designs - Jeep Commander, anyone?

B40 Concept:

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The B40 concept SUV has a range of style - you can see a Wrangler, you can see bits of the Landrover LRX, and bits of the last gen Jeep Cherokee, but altogether the overall design just works well! We like it! The B40 is based on an improved Brave Warrior SUV chassis, Beijing Auto Works has also upgraded the suspension to make it into a more comfortable ride. The most surprising thing of all, the B40 is a hybrid. The B40 is expected to go into production by the end of this year.

Ragtop Warrior:

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The convertible Warrior jeep is the civilian version on the recently launched PLA Warrior jeep. China Car Times has seen a few of the Warriors out in PLA service, and we have to say they do look awesome.

Hybrid Warrior:

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PLA military planners can now sleep soundly at night knowing that their PLA SUVs wont be pumping out lots of CO2 when patrolling the boundries of the glorious PRC! Beijing Auto Works has created a hybrid version of the Warrior, and could well see full time use by the Police, Army, or the Parks commission pretty soon. An excellent idea, who said the PLA wasn’t red green?

What are your thoughts?

Mosolf Plans to Enter China in a Big Way

Published by Charlie April 18th, 2008 in Beijing-Benz DaimlerChrysler Automotive. 0 Comments

GEFCO’s Peter Reinshagen and Dr Jörg Mosolf, CEO of Horst Mosolf held an interesting and informative question and answer session at the 5th Automotive Logistics China Conference in Beijing Thursday afternoon. Together they outlined strategies they believe will help develop world-class practices for China-specific vehicle logistics.

Dr. Mosolf explained the factors that he believes differentiate automobile logistics from simple vehicle transportation: Customer Focus, IT Forecasting, Quality Management, Intermodel and Optimization. Mosolf strives to work closely with automobile manufactures to change manufacturing from a “Push” strategy where cars are produced and then pushed out to the customer to a “Pull” strategy where production tracks end customer purchases and manufacturing builds vehicles which are already sold.

Mr. Reinshagen and Dr. Mosolf shared examples of instances where their companies work together despite being competitors. They explained how they share transportation resources to optimize efficiency and reduce empty shipments in order to save energy and protect the environment.

Both companies expressed a willingness to share technology with potential Chinese partners to help improve logistics provided to Chinese automobile manufacturers. Dr. Mosolf’s emphasized “What I am sure of is that we will do business in China.”

Dr. Mosolf believes foreign invested joint venture manufacturers will be the first companies to export automobiles in large quantities. Given Mosolf’s close relationship with Daimler Benz is it possible Mercedes is planning to begin exporting cars made in China? We’ll have to wait and see.

Dodge Avenger for China

Published by Ash January 9th, 2008 in Beijing-Benz DaimlerChrysler Automotive. 1 Comment

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Although China Car Times is clearly for Chinese cars (and the industry) we do have a soft spot for modern American cars. The latest offerings from Dodge look quiet tasty (and are cheap!) The Avenger for example looks excellent, bold lines from the 70’s straight in your face in 2008. We love it. Dodge are going to export the Avenger to China later this year, where it will cost 200,000rmb ($27,000USD), Stateside the Avenger is in the lower $20k region, obviously import fees have risen the price considerably for the base models.

Later on in the year, the stockier looking Dodge Caliber will also make an appearence in China.

Chrysler is also planning to import the Dodge Viper into China which is rumored to be priced at over 1 million RMB in China (137k USD)

We’re not sure if this model will be sold via the SouEast JV or the Beijing Benz JV. Only time will tell!

Bronco based Beijing Jeep!

Published by Ash December 13th, 2007 in Beijing-Benz DaimlerChrysler Automotive and Chinese Car News. 8 Comments

The name ‘Jim Corty’ must be the stuff of legends in the Beijing Jeep factory, for he is the man who managed to keep a Beijing 2020 Jeep on the road, and in reasonably good condition for more than 24 hours at a time, although he only managed it with a little help from a willing Ford Bronco.

Mr. Corty bought the 1997 Beijing 2020 via a Mississippi based company, he isnt sure how the BJ2020 got into the USA, but remarked that in Mississippi, the DVLA will stick a license plate on anything. Most of the other B2020’s that were imported were eventually found and confiscated by the American government, but Mr. Corty seemed to have found a way to fight the machine, and keep his own machine running for more than 20 miles at a time.

Mr. Corty used a 1969 Ford Bronco chassis and engine, then stuck the BJ2020 shell on top, as simple as. The US Government couldn’t take away his pride and joy, as legally it falls under kit car specifications, all he has to do is keep the safety specifications at the required legal level of 1969, so all he had to do was install some seatbelts.

Click for bigger pictures:

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Previously on China Car Times: Take your BJ2020, and make it into a Wrangler.

Chrysler to get in on small car business in China?

Published by Ash October 16th, 2007 in Beijing-Benz DaimlerChrysler Automotive. 3 Comments

Getting in on the small car business pretty much saved Chevrolet, and Chrysler seems to be looking at the same business model. According to the Wall Street Journal, Chrysler has indicated that they wish to enter the small and compact car segment to raise sales.

Chrysler sold less than 8,000 vehicles in China in 2006, however, in 2007 they are looking at sales of around 20,000. Over the next year Chrysler is going to up the number of Chrysler dealerships from 81 to 116 dealers, and increase Dodge dealers from Zero to 60. China Car Times has noted that Chrysler Sebring and Dodge advertisements have started appearing around the country in various magazines and newspapers.

Dodge Caravan ready for Q4 sales

Published by Ash September 27th, 2007 in Soueast Motors and Beijing-Benz DaimlerChrysler Automotive. 1 Comment

Dodge are aiming to get the Chinese made Caravan ready for Q4 sales in 2007. Dodge have teamed up with SouEast motors to get the domestically made Caravan out on to the roads to rival the Buick GL8’s long standing dominance over the luxury business MPV sector.

The older generation caravans have been available in China for some time but this is the first time it has been made here, pricing is expected to be much lower than the imported version.

SouEast is taking over production of Dodge vehicles in China and aims to have 60 Dodge dealers set up by the end of year.  Now that Dodge is hear in China, Chrysler can rest happy knowing that it might actually make a decent profit now 3 of its big brands are here.

Sebring about to enter the market, but will it go home crying?

Published by Ash September 6th, 2007 in Beijing-Benz DaimlerChrysler Automotive. 3 Comments

The segment of upper class medium sized cars has long been dominated by the likes of Toyota with their Camry and Honda with their Accord, a few other players have taken to the streets such as Roewe but only after spending millions of RMB on advertising, MG have turned up but its yet to be seen if it will any impact on the market at all. Dodge have finally made it into China, they are manufacturing their Sebring model domestically in China and is aiming at Toyotas and Hondas well established market base, at a price that is competitive with Accords and Camrys but without massive advertising will it sell off both name and reputation alone?

American brands are quite popular in China, Ford cant make the Ford Focus quick enough for sales, and other cars such as the Chevy Blazer, Dodge Ram, various Pontiac MPV’s are seen daily on Chinese roads.

Up close and personal with the Chinese made Chrysler 300c

Published by Ash August 8th, 2007 in Car Reviews, Beijing-Benz DaimlerChrysler Automotive and Chinese Car News. 3 Comments

The Chrysler 300c is a car with big chunky looks, if Rocky Balboa was a car, he’d look like this car. The 300c has made for good sales for embattled Beijing Benz the maker of the 300c in China. Over the past week China Car Times managed to get our dirty oily hands on what quite possibly must be the best looking American car, ever.

The car sticks out like one of Picassos creation amongst a kindergarten art show, the sheer bulk of the car seemingly overpowers everything else on the road around. This car is massive, and the interior is massive as well, you can easily fit the entire Chinese soccer team into the back, and probably the team coach as well.

The Chinese edition is pretty much the same as the American editions, just that they are made in China instead of America. The quality is not an issue, but the pricing is. The cheapest Chinese model is 280,000rmb for the 2.7 V6 ‘Business Class’ model, that works out to a stonking $36,956.38USD, meanwhile, in the good ol’ US of A, the base model starts at a bargain 24,445USD, thats 180,000RMB. So it works out almost 100,000rmb (13,198.71USD) more expensive to buy the 300c in China, than it does in the USA. How does that work out?

Another drawback to the 300c in China, is that it only comes in two colors, a choice of either black or silver.

Enough about pricing, and build quality - Lets talk about the drive.

As soon as you rev the engine, you hear a growl, a growl like a hungry lion ready to pounce. China Car Times sat on the forecourt revving that engine for at least five minutes, the noise that V6 makes is heavenly, we’re pretty sure if God drives, this is what he would drive. The 300c is simply the nicest sounding car we have heard in quite some time. The car itself feels like it has a lot of power on tap, it just wants to keep going and going and going, before you know it, we had run out of room.

In China price wise, the car is too expensive, but this hasnt hindered sales at all. In large cities you can pretty much see a few dozen black or silver 300cs with blacked out windows every day. Although it is more expensive than either the Roewe 750, MG7, Accords, Audi A4, BMW 3 series and Camry’s the 300c seems to be winning buyers with its unconventional styling and raw power that takes it away from the ‘Grandpa’ cars we mentioned previously
You want style, you want to be different, buy a 300c.

Beijing Jeep produced already?

Published by Ash August 3rd, 2007 in Beijing-Benz DaimlerChrysler Automotive and Chinese Car News. 2 Comments

We heard today from the Chinese motoring press that the Beijing Military jeep named, ‘The Warrior’ has already come off the production line. The second generation Beijing Jeep for military use, and possible future civilian purchase looks a lot more rugged than the previous 2020 Jeep which was pretty much a Soviet Russian-come-USA Jeep Wrangler type vehicle, they still remain popular in China with offroaders and expats who want a Wrangler, but cant afford one.

China Car Times saw a ‘Warrior’ Jeep a few months ago on the road, and we have to say, it doesnt look as cool as the original 2020 we find it to be an odd cross of all national defence vehicles, you can see hints of the Landrover Defender, the Humvee etc all in one jeep. Still, it comes with a CD player and probably runs better than the original.

If you want one for civillian use, you’ll be able to get it for yourself in the first half of ‘08.

Mitsubishi stops producing the Outlander in China

Published by Ash August 1st, 2007 in Beijing-Benz DaimlerChrysler Automotive and Chinese Car News. 0 Comments
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Beijing-Benz will stop producing the first generation Mitsubishi Outlander from early next year due to an end of contract which doesnt seem to have been renewed. The Outlander delivered a shock to the Chinese auto market when it was first released in China, its unusual styling halfway between station wagon and SUV made it popular with city folk who wanted to ride above the rest. The 2nd generation Outlander is now available in China, but it is an imported model and is around 300,000rmb compared to the first generation Outlander which was around 150,000rmb to 210,000rmb.

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