For Jaguar, China is one of the biggest markets in the world and it is only getting bigger as China’s appetite for luxury motors continues and Jaguar-Landrover (JLR) are looking to take a bigger slice of the market. JLR is planning to enter the Chinese market with a Chinese partner to assemble JLR vehicles in China which will bring the price down considerably and will make their vehicles more competitive once they have lost their high import tax.
Today’s media reports are indicating that Jaguar have reached out to Chery, a …

The Huatai B11 has officially come down the production line today and will be available for sale in a matter of weeks. The Huatai B11 will go by its Chinese name of 元田 (Yuan Tian) and will be available with a SAIC sourced 1.8T engine to start with, although its much talked about diesel variant will launch within a few weeks.
The 1.8T engine is the same as the one found in the Roewe 550 and the MG6, which is a 160bhp unit producing 118kw and 215Nm of torque. Interestingly, the …

Recently car maker, Zotye have invested 2 billion RMB into a new factory that will be to produce upto 10,000 new energy vehicles per year, and is thus a 5 times increase on their original plan to produce 20,000 new energy cars per year.
From what we have learned, Zotye has three platforms on which they will produce 5 different electric cars, the 2008EV and 5008EV SUV models, there are also three other models in development which are likely to be the Fiat Palio hatch and sedan, and also the Fiat …

From Joon Gang Daily:
A Mercedes-Benz owner named Heo drove to a repair shop in June and complained about problems with his luxury sedan’s air conditioning. Heo told the repairman that he had replaced his refrigerant two months earlier. When they popped the Mercedes’ hood, they found the compressor covered in orange rust.
A police inspection revealed that the new refrigerant was a cheap and dangerous type imported from China that contained flammable chemicals.
Police believe about 60,000 cars being driven in Korea contain the faulty refrigerant.
“If …

From Retuers:
China’s passenger car sales are on track to hit 15 million units in 2010, the official Shanghai Securities News reported on Thursday, citing a senior official from an industry body.
The strong sales growth rates in the first few months of the year were due mainly to a low base effect, and so the recent slowdown in growth was not worrisome, said Dong Yang, secretary general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
Chinese car makers sold a record 13.6 million cars in 2009, helping …

Now we are into the second half of 2010, it appears that the vast majority of automakers here in China are only just or have completely missed their middle of year sales goals which are likely to knock their end of year sales goals askew. Only BYD have so far come forward and lowered their sales goal for 2010, but over the next few weeks it is likely that many others will follow.
One way to keep those end of year sales goals alive is to introduce a range of new …

According to Western and Chinese media reports, Geely will finally pick up the keys to their Volvo purchase on August 2nd 2010 which is less than a week away.
Geely bought Volvo from Ford for 1.8 billion RMB earlier this year, but it seemed that Geely were planning to buy Volvo as early as April 2009 and were likely to be in talks with Ford at a much earlier period.
The European commission has already given Geely the go ahead to take over Volvo after Geely proved that it wouldn’t be in …

In recent years, the Beijing-Hyundai joint venture has grown several fold in terms of sales, just 24 months ago the Hyundai line up for China looked rather unloved and out of place but thanks to the introduction of new models such as the best selling Elantra and selling multi generational models side by side Hyundai have been able to cater to two types of consumer out of one dealership network, a plan that seems to have worked.
In order to keep up with demand for Hyundai cars in China, Hyundai and …

Whilst the Chinese auto market is down as a whole, there are certain niche segments such as the luxury car business that seems to performing above and beyond expectations.
The German brands of Mercedes, BMW and Audi appear to have the greatest control over the luxury car market, but the Japanese brands such as Acura, Infiniti and Lexus are gaining ground.
In the first half of the year Mercedes, including AMG, Smart, and Maybach brands sold 59,600 vehicles, which is a sales increase of 122% …

Whilst Brilliance are a relatively new automotive company they have moved swiftly and strongly to aggresively push their automotive projects which first started with the BS6 but soon spread into the BS4 and then further diversity into the FRV hatchback, FSV compact sedan and also BS4 wagon and Coupe. A partnership with BMW and as of more recently, Mercedes, has given Brilliance a great step up in the technology and quality game.
Brilliance expanded relatively quickly to move out of the sedan building business and focused on newer niche markets such …

From the Washington Daily:
General Motors Co. will sell its steering-parts operation to a Beijing-based business venture in what could be the largest move by a Chinese company into the U.S. auto-parts industry.The car maker announced a deal Wednesday to sell its Nexteer Automotive business to Pacific Century Motors, an entity comprised of Beijing-based auto-industry supplier Tempo International Group and a Chinese government-owned financial enterprise knows as E-Town.
Financial terms weren’t disclosed but the deal is expected to total over $450 million.
General Motors said earlier this year that it planned to sell …

According to Chinese automotive media reports late yesterday VW are set to import the R-line series of performance models into China and will go up against BMW’s M series, Audi’s Quattro system and Mercedes AMG line up, all of which have so far been imported into China so far.
The R-Line series has already been imported in the form of the R36 Passat wagon, and will soon have the Tiguan R added to its side as well as the Sciricco. R-Line imports are due to begin this month according to the …

SAIC’s Roewe 350 and MG6 have just recently rolled off the production line and have claimed automotive headlines for the past few weeks, but SAIC are not set at falling back into the small print and plan to roll out the MG3 in September this year.
The MG3 (pictured left) was first shown as the MG Zero concept at the Beijing Auto Show in April. Engines for the MG3 have been set as a 1.3L engine and the 1.5L taken from the Roewe 350, on the gearbox front the MG3 will …

From Assosciated Press:
European Union regulators on Tuesday approved Chinese carmaker Geely to buy Sweden’s iconic Volvo Cars.
The European Commission said it sees no antitrust problems with Zhejiang Geely Holding Co.’s $1.8 billion acquisition of Volvo Cars from Ford Motor Co. because the takeover won’t give either company the power to damage rivals.
Geely sells hardly any cars in Europe and Volvo only has “very limited” operations as a car parts supplier, it said.
Geely’s acquisition of Volvo from Ford Motor Co. has been heralded as a breakthrough deal for China’s auto industry, …

The streak of strikes in China forcing operators to improve wages and working conditions took a Toyota plant offline late last week, but according to media reports work will restart today, but at what cost? Honda had to increase wages considerably before work would recommence, perhaps Toyota have had to give into similar demands.
Toyota Motor Corp said it would restart production at a Chinese car assembly factory that was suspended part of Friday due to a supply shortage from a strike-hit supplier.
Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi said production …

So soon after Honda’s strikes, it makes us wonder which other foreign companies will get hit next with strikes for higher wages:
From Reuters:
Strikes have hit two of Toyota’s China-based parts suppliers in another sign of growing unrest among the migrant workers who are the backbone of the country’s industrial sector.Workers at a plastic parts factory of Toyota Motor Corp. affiliate Toyoda Gosei Co. in the northeastern city of Tianjin went on strike Thursday, forcing the plant’s production line to shut down in the afternoon, said …

In China’s ancient cities, the automobile question is starting to becoming more of a looming issue. Cities such as Beijing, Xi’an, and the older east coast former colonial cities were built with the horse and cart and public traffic in mind rather than the automobile, now that the number of cars on the road has increased exponentially in the past few years the traffic systems in major cities are at breaking point as Asia One describes:
Beijingers have the longest commutes of any city dwellers in China, spending an average …

Skoda is a relatively new brand in China, but it has done extremely well with the introduction of the Octavia, Fabia and then Superb, but VW and SAIC plan to further expand the line up with the addition of the Octavia RS and also the Yeti Crossover.
The Octavia RS will be powered by the 2.0TSI engine that is used in the Golf GTI and Magotan sedan, it produces 200bhp and is the second hot hatch that VW has introduced into China. The Yeti crossover will likely be a popular …

When I was a mere child, the story of France meeting the UK in the tunnel under the English Channel which would later form the Eurostar was major news, however by 2010 the feat of under sea tunneling no longer appears to be major news. The latest tunnel between Qingdao and Huangdao is set to open in 2011 and is the second major under sea tunnelling project in China after the Xiamen-Fujian project:
From China Daily:
QINGDAO – Major digging finished Wednesday on an undersea tunnel linking the east and west parts …

Shanghai Auto Industry Corporation is set to buy Yunei Power Company, which will give SAIC access to a range of diesel engines.
Yunnei Power Company is based in Kunming, South West China, by buying into the engine company SAIC has gained an important link in its automobile empire. Until now SAIC have only had access to their self developed gasoline engines, but by adding diesel engines into the mixture they will have an increased offering.
Yunnei’s biggest income is from traditional light weight diesel engines, however they are planning to …

Happy days!
From Nitrobahn:

China steals the show again! This time, the Asian superpower takes over BMW’s incredible one millionth X5. Though all credits for gaining such a height in SUV production go to the staff of Spartanburg, South Carolina, the illustrious piece will grace the roads of China!
After first appearing in late 1999 as 2000 X5, the SUV from BMW has achieved a milestone by producing the one millionth model this week within a span of 11 years, says an auto expert. X5 is a name that has helped people experience …

At the end of May, Carl Peter Forster of Tata Group announced that Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) vehicles would be produced in China, and would need around one to two years to search for a suitable partner and space for a factory in China.
In an interesting turn of events, yesterdays Chinese automotive media were speculating that Nanchang city in Jiangxi province is likely to be the eventual home of JLR in China thanks to the local government’s offer of special privileges within the city.
Why would an international premium …

After the labour dispute between Honda and its striking workers, there has been a flurry of worry across the Middle Kingdom that workers in other Foreign Direct Investment and Joint Venture companies night push their own bosses for a payrise, and might just strike to get what they want.
Marketwatch speculates and worries us:
A sharp recent increase in minimum wages across several parts of China is raising worries about squeezed profit margins at manufacturing firms that may not be able raise prices to cover the increase in costs.
And while local …

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.

Yet more news of an eventual bust in the Chinese auto market:
The global auto sector looks poised for a recovery, but some analysts remained wary of the prospects — particularly for the Japanese, Chinese and Indian markets — because of the potential for rising manufacturing costs and uncertainty surrounding consumer spending.
“The recovery of the global auto sector looks to be stronger than the macroeconomic recovery in many regions, driven by demand and pricing,” Moody’s Investors Service said in an industry outlook report released Thursday.
Significant capacity was removed in the …