The Chinese auto market is booming, and everyone wants a (bigger) piece of the pie. Following the footsteps of JAC, one of China’s largest commercial vehicles makers, Wuling and King Long are planning to enter the passenger car market.

SAIC-GM-Wuling so far has been mainly selling minivans and light commercial vehicles and actually has been very successful, topping the sales charts last month. Chinese media reported Wuling might be unveiling their first passenger car in the World Expo in Shanghai, codenamed GP50.
It is expected this car will be based on the …

After the massive rains and flooding in southern China earlier this month and in April, it is expected that thousands of flood damaged cars are about to hit the second hand market.
China’s second hand car market is still very much in its infancy and has not yet learned to crawl, walk, or even make odd sounds. There are no Chinese Parkers Guides to dictate second hand values, which generally means that second hand residuals remain on par with new car pricing.
Dongying City in the center of Guangdong province …

Unknown to many, the partnership with FAW and Mazda is not actually a joint venture but rather FAW licensing the rights to produce Mazda vehicles and use Mazda logos to promote the vehicles in China. In a recent months Mazda and FAW have been eager to expand their partnership and are reportedly planning to lift their partnership to JV status to introduce an expanding line up into China.
Chang’an Mazda which is splitting its time between ChangAn’s other JV partners of Ford, Volvo, and Suzuki as well as ChangAn’s own …

Just a couple of weeks ago, a rumor about Brilliance abandoning the European market spread online. The media jumped the gun on the story. Brilliance’s distributor in Europe, HSO Motors had declared bankruptcy a year earlier and it appeared that one of the first Chinese forays into the European market had not completely failed, in spite of claims that Brilliance wasn’t giving up just yet.

The Buick Excelle GT sedan is expected to launch in July according to Chinese automotive media sources. The Excelle GT is based off the GM Delta II platform which is also shared with other China made products such as the Chevrolet Cruze and the Buick Excelle hatchback. The Chinese press are already referring to the Excelle as the baby Lacrosse due their likeness.
The Buick Excelle GT will also carry the same engines as the hatchback version, which involves a range topping 1.6T and a naturally aspirated 1.8. Pricing for the …

This farmer from Wuhan should be considered a national treasure for his actions which are more akin to the actions of Bo and Luke than those of your average Chinese farmer.
The 45 year old farmer, Mr. Shu, spent 100,000rmb of his own money on assembling this particular home made plane which took to the skies for 3 seconds before crashing into a neighboring compound. Mr. Shu apparently hurt his legs in flight to the stars and remains undeterred in his planes for home made flight. He even had his mother …

From the first public day on April 25th until the last day on May 2nd, over 800000 visitors swept past the six halls of the Beijing Auto Show making it the biggest in terms of actual visitors in the world over the period of the show. The peak day on May 1st saw 145,000 visitors go through the entrance gates in a single day, only slightly lower than the Shanghai Expo in terms of visitor numbers?.
A spokesperson for the Beijing Auto Show revealed that the scope and size, as …

A “report” initially published by Gasgoo has been widely circulated around the Internet. As a result, we have been graced with punchlines such as “Chinese automakers still can’t lick quality problems” from USAToday, and also Autoblog‘s “Chinese car quality complaints on the rise”.
Because there’s nothing like good, old fashioned China bashing, right? Unfortunately, due to the lack of ethics or pure laziness from these so-called “journalists,” it’s up to CCT to debunk the myths and right the wrongs. Instead of making further research or using common sense, it’s easier …

The Beijing Auto Show will officially being tomorrow, April 23rd. Dozens of automakers and hundreds of cars will be waiting for their chance to shine.
Here is a brief list of new (some are not so new) cars that will be shown in Bejing. Click on the links for more info:

Guangzhou Auto Group (GAIG), which has joint ventures with Honda and Toyota, is poised to become a major player in the Chinese auto industry. GAIG announced a merger with Gonow this week, having already taken Changfeng a year ago. Part of the strategy to accomplish this goal  involves the launch of a self developed brand, which will be revealed in the Beijing auto show.
GAIG has shown several concepts in previous auto shows, but only this year they’ve announced the brand will be officially launched. Its …

The forthcoming stretched E-Class has been spotted parked outside of the Beijing Auto Show prior to entry, and oddly without any disguising. The E-Class comes at a time when Mercedes are trailing their natural enemy Audi in the Chinese car market and have come back with a stretched E-Class to pry away some potential Audi A6L buyers.
The Chinese E-Class is stretched by 14cm for the Chinese market, although it is actually 7mm smaller in height than the overseas version.

JAC will show in Beijing their new MPV, the Refine IV. The production version is significantly different from the arguably better looking concept shown a couple years ago. It has been made bigger to increase interior room: 5100 x 1840 x 1970 mm, with a 3800mm wheelbase. It comes with a 2.0TCI engine, producing 177hp and 260 Nm torque. The MPV will be equipped with ABS+EBD, back up cameras, DVD player, etc. More high-end trims will come with leather seats, automatic air-conditioning and more creature comforts.
JAC will also show …

Hello folks! It’s me, the Analyst. I am the newest editor on CCT, and I’ll be here to help Ash with the site. I am still familiarizing myself with WordPress, so please have a little patience… 
IAT-auto, which introduced the Wufeng concept back in 2006, is coming back to Beijing this year. With designs “inspired by Chinese tradition and culture,” IAT is planning to hop on the green bandwagon, making eco-friendly cars in cooperation with Japanese battery maker ENAX.

Great Wall Motors heavily anticipated sedan is set to launch at this months Beijing Auto Show and will continue with GWM’s march into the A-segment of the Chinese auto world where they have already performed exceptionally well against a multitude of different competitors.
The C30 has already been given a Chinese name of 腾翼 (Teng Yi) and will be GWM’s global car, which means that we might just be seeing it in Europe, and also Australia within a very short time. GWM are focusing on building cars that are up to …

Geely may have bought Volvo for a bargain 1.8 billion USD, a fraction of the price that Ford originally paid for it several years ago, but exactly have they bought? Well, CCT can reveal that Geely have come into quite a bit for the money that they have spent, they’ve gained a fantastic well respected Western brand which could be profitable with the right management. If you compare Geely’s purchase to other overseas purchases by Chinese auto companies it is in fact an absolute steal for the price, SAIC spent …

It seems the big man of the Chinese automobile world is likely in the air right now on his way to officially buy the Volvo unit from a beleagured Ford International that is just bouncing back from last years devastating economy. The Volvo purchase is likely to give Volvo a massive leap in terms of technology and power over its domestic Chinese rivals.
The WSJ has the lowdown:
The chairman of China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. traveled to Sweden Friday to finalize his company’s acquisition of Ford Motor Co.’s …

From April 1st 2010, China is planning to have another major crack down on all drink drivers and behind the wheel offenders. After a series of horrendous traffic accidents involving drunk drivers in 2009 and 2008 the Chinese government ordered the police to have a major crack down on drunk drivers who know will now face some fairly stiff punishments in 2010.
From April 1st, any driver who is caught with a blood alcohol level will be have 12 points taken from his license and ultimately disqualified from driving. The Chinese …

ZonaEuropa:
In the city of Guiyang, there is a public service campaign titled “Three Innovations, One Implementation” going on.  Guizhou TV’s Channel Five program <Rule of Law Frontline> covered this campaign to go after illegal behavior by car drivers, motorcycle drivers and pedestrians.

On the morning of March 23, 2010, the program team filmed an incident in which a female driver in a car with no license plate was stopped by …

In the middle of yesterday afternoon a behind the scenes script on CCT went haywire and took the down the server for several hours until one of our support team were able to reboot the server.
Please accept our apologies!

Dongfeng have gone from strength to strength in recent years, asides from minor distractions, they are pushing ahead with their own brand of cars albeit slightly slower than other state owned rivals. Their latest model appears to be a crossover styled SUV:
The SUV seems to take on some styling from the Dongfeng Joyear MPV that has proven to be reasonably popular, the rear lights in particular do look similar to the Joyear MPV. Engines for the SUV have not yet been announced, but it is likely to make good use …

The partnership between Mercedes and Beijing Auto has proven to be a succesful venture so far, however Mercedes are planning to give the E-Class some Chinese characteristics in a bid to boost sales in a market where it is lagging behind its traditionally weaker competitor, Audi. Beijing-Benz will soon launch the made in China E300L, with L being of course Chinese for lengthened. The need for L-cars has been growing in recent years due to Audi’s successful launch of the Audi A4L and Audi A6L where the market requires that …

From Business Week:
Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally said talks to sell the automaker’s Volvo unit to Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. are proceeding, while the chairman of the Chinese company raised doubts about a deal.“We are making progress on the negotiations,” Mulally said today in an interview in Shanghai.
Geely Chairman Li Shufu told the Wall Street Journal that negotiations were “very tough” and “the situation is changing constantly.” Interviewed on the sidelines of a ceremony at the company’s Beijing Geely …

From Xinhua:
BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) — GM China Investment Co., Ltd. is to recall 7,942 imported Cadillac CTS cars in the Chinese mainland from April 28 due to possible brake fluid leakages, China’s quality watchdog said Thursday.
The rubber part of the brake lining could trap water with impure chemical materials, which could lead to erosion of the brake lining’s connection point with the brake cylinder, a statement posted on the official website of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine (AQSIQ) …

For several decades China has relied on Russian heavy duty helicopters but they now have succesfully desgined and built their own heavy lifting ‘choppa reports the BBC:
China’s first domestically developed civilian helicopter has completed a successful maiden flight in Jingdezhen, in the eastern province of Jiangxi.
The heavy-lift AC313 helicopter, built by the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (Avic), can carry 27 passengers or up to 13.8 tonnes.
It is designed to be used for rescue missions in earthquakes, typhoons and other natural disasters.
It is …

According to the website Autohome.com.cn, Shanghai-VW are planning to launch the Skoda Octavia Wagon into China. The Octavia first launched in China in 2007, and has sold very well so far. The facelift Octavia is also due to launch at the show, but the real star of the show is likely to be the Octavia Wagon：
The Octavia range has performed reasonably well, with sales of 86125 vehicles sold in 2009 alone which was a 45% increase over 2008 sales. Facelifts and wagons are only going to improve sales in 2010, …