More disabled drivers will be able to take to the roads in the next few years as China relaxes the laws on disabled motorists according to Xinhua:
China’s Ministry of Public Security recently issued an amendment to driving license rules, giving more disabled people the rights to sit behind the wheel.
Those with disabled right leg or both legs but able to sit up independently are allowed to drive small-sized automatic transmission cars which are specially designed for them, according to the new rules which will take effect on April 1.
The present …

Well, at least the Western parts:
From the China Daily:
URUMQI, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) — More people preferred to carpool amid cold weather and continuous snow in Urumqi, capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Li Mei, an office worker who lives 10 kilometers from her office, joined a carpooling group she found on the Internet. She gets a phone call at 7:50 p.m. every day from a carpool partner reminding her the time to go home.
Li said: “It is too cold to …

Hyundai have been making massive inroads into the Chinese market in the past 12 months, they’ve revamped their car line up from being rather stale and dry to becoming one of the most sought after brands in China. It seems that they are having similar plans for the trucking industry with the start of a new JV with Baotou Bei Ben:
From Reuters:
Hyundai Motor Co said on Sunday it had signed an initial agreement to create a commercial vehicle joint venture with China’s Baotou Bei Ben Heavy-Duty Truck Co Ltd with …

With the Roewe 350 about to launch on the tails of the MG6 (which coincidently launches tomorrow), MG will get its own version of the Roewe 350 which has been codenamed MG ZP11 and is likely to be the MG5, or even 3.
2010 is set to be a big year for MG and Roewe with SAIC planning to launch the Roewe 350 in around March, plus a facelift MG3 SW will make an appearence in the middle of 2010 alongside a facelift Roewe 750, as well as the Roewe …

Previously it was reported that SAIC and BYD would team up in China to put batteries in SAIC’s future hybrid vehicles, but now it seems that SAIC have turned to A123 to make their motors turn in a new range of public use vehicles:
From Reuters:
SAN FRANCISCO/HONG KONG, Dec 17 (Reuters) – Lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems Inc (AONE.O) said on Thursday it is forming a joint venture with China’s top carmaker SAIC Motor Corp (600104.SS) to sell battery systems for electric vehicles in the world’s largest automotive market.
A123’s …

Are we going to start to see a squeeze on JV vehicles in the future:
SHANGHAI, Dec 16 (Reuters) – China wants half of passenger cars, including sport utility vehicles, sold to be self-developed by 2015, state media said on Wednesday, up from 44 percent now, as part of a push to build up its own auto industry.
Chinese automaker’s own-brand sedans should account for a 40 percent share of the market, according to revised guidelines for the auto industry, the Shanghai Securities News said, citing unamed sources.
Sales of SAIC Motor …

In a recent interview between auto.sohu and Chery chairman Mr. Yin Tong Yue, Mr Yi expressed that Chery are still resolute on their plans to go it alone and wont sign any JV’s with foreign manufacturers. The interview is very interesting as it gives more information on what goes on behind the scenes at Chery Automobile, and how the company strong man takes on ideas and uses them within the company he has been tasked to manage.
The interview managed to grab headline news across international news sites yesterday, but there …

BYD are planning to launch yet another sedan in its sedan dominated line up. The latest sedan is expected to be the below L3, which will be positioned between the F3 and G3 sedans.
How exactly this will differ from the F3 other than exterior styling is yet to be known, the L3 will carry the same 1.5L and 1.8L powerplants, and will have a similar interior to the F3.

According to The WallStreet Journal (subscription only), Smart are planning to launch an electric Smart fortwo model here in China:
BEIJING — Daimler AG plans to start a pilot program for an electric version of its Smart minicar in China next year, joining a growing list of firms evaluating the potential for next-generation clean-energy vehicles in the world’s biggest automobile market.
Daimler is currently considering which cities to test the cars in, said Ulrich Walker, chairman of Daimler Northeast Asia, in a year-end briefing with reporters. “We have to see the …

Everyone is downbeat about the worlds automotive underdog, naysayers have been saying for years that eventually GM will go bankrupt. In 2008 and 2009, it did for a time look like GM was facing a very bleak future even GM’s most ardent supporters were about ready to throw in the towel and admit that GM was basically done for. The story is well known; GM persuaded the American Government to bail them out, perhaps they did all the persuasion in the back of a 3.0L V6 Buick Lacrosse, otherwise known …

According to Cai Xun Finance newspaper, Suzuki Motors is planning to start producing motorbikes in China in the second half of 2010, and plan to produce around 500,000 motorbikes per year in China.
Suzuki spokesman Takuma Mizuyoshi was quoted as saying that Suzuki are planning to produce new enviromentally friendly small displacement motorbikes in China.
Previously Suzuki had a JV with Jinan’s Qingqi group to produce motorbikes in China, it is unknown if that JV is still in operation, or if Suzuki plan to work with a different partner.
Gasgoo …

Jaguar, the British premium car maker, are planning on restructuring their China sales network over 2010 following the successful launch of their all new Jaguar XJ sedan in Guangzhou this week.
Jaguars chief executive in China Mr. Wang Li Rui told journalists at the Guangzhou Auto Show that Jaguar China plans to change its current sales network set up in China, and also of Jaguars plans to expand investment in China, which will include an indpendent China sales company. China is expected to become Jaguars largest market in the next …

From The Shanghai Daily:
COMING someday to a roadside police stop near you — a cap that can tell cops whether you’re too drunk or too tired to drive by reading your brain waves.
The headwear sounds like science fiction, but it’s being developed by scientists at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
They’re working on an invention to gauge drivers’ alertness — the ability to make rapid responses — by using sensors to analyze what’s going on in their heads.
The research, revealed at the Microsoft Research Asia Symposium yesterday, was welcomed by traffic police, …

Dongfeng launched their new hatchback model to sit by its sedan brother earlier today, the H30 is the third Dongfeng self designed vehicle.
The H30 measures (LxWxH) 4268mm x 1740 x 1482, and has a wheelbase of 2610mm.
Engine power will be delivered by a 1.6L engine, and gears come in the form of a 5 speed manual and a ASIN sourced 4 speed automatic box.

Jaguar have found themselves a niche market in China for premium sedans, whilst their traditional competitors have been BMW, Audi and Mercedes in Europe and North America, in China they sail above the Germans. The new Jaguar XJ was shown off in China today at the Guangzhou Auto show along with its eye watering price tag of 1.98 million RMB. The XJ will be available to purchase in the first quarter of 2010 according to Jaguar.
Recently the Jaguar XF sedan was to be recalled in China due to quality …

The Chinese built Citroen C5 was launched today at the Dongfeng-Citroen joint venture. Citroen was one of the early European companies to enter the Chinese automobile market, and they stayed content with building their Citroen ZX in China whilst rarely introducing new models, sales figures reflected this and kicked Citroen into gear. Dongfeng-Citroen quickly put the popular Citroen C4 saloon into production (however, under a different name) then introduced the well selling Citroen C4 hatchback, before yet again producing a China only Citroen C4 hatch which is smaller (and more …

China Car Times is officially three years old this week. As the story goes, the idea for CCT was officially born just before the Beijing 2006 Auto Show when I wrote an article about the launch of Roewe on my own (now defunct) personal blog, that article became quite popular and as I was researching my own car purchase at the time I realized that at that time there was little to no English information about the Chinese car industry, thus I thought it would be a great idea to …

Without a doubt, the Chery QQ is THE iconic Chinese car, it launched in 2003 and is still going strong in 2009 with sales over 10,000 units per month. The QQ3 has not changed at all since its launch, however 2010 is set to see a facelift model, shown left.
The front end seems to have undergone a massive change, but the side and rear look to be the same.
Power is expected to come from a 1.0L engine delivering 80Nm of torque to the front wheels.
Price wise, the QQ3 is still …

The current sales tax for sub 1.6L cars has spurred on the development of powerful engines such as the VW 1.4TSI engine which gives car owners lower sales tax but all the power and punt of a larger engine. Sub 1.3L cars in China are few and far between, but Chang-an Suzuki are reportedly working on building a new range of 660CC Turbo powered engines which would take advantage of the 1% sales tax on sub 1.0L vehicles.
The upcoming 600CC Turbo engine could be finding its way into the …

Qian Xuesen, the brains behind China’s jet propolsion technology and also rocket technology, including technology that took the recent Shenzhou rockets into space past away at the age of 98 in Beijing yesterday:
From the LATimes
Qian Xuesen, a former Caltech rocket scientist who helped establish the Jet Propulsion Laboratory before being deported in 1955 on suspicion of being a Communist and who became known as the father of China’s space and missile programs, has died. He was 98.
Qian, also known as Tsien Hsue-shen, died Saturday in Beijing, China’s state news agency …

I will miss those old rickety East German trains that took me across the length and breadth of China when I was a mere whipper snapper, but the new Harmonious Bullet Trains are certainly awesome. Newsweek elaborates some more about the future expansion of the high speed network:

For decades, rail travel in China meant an arduous overnighter in a crowded East German–designed train, riding along a rickety old track. Now China is undergoing a rail revolution. Over the next three years, the government will pour some $300 billion into its …

So says The Telegraph:

The chairman and founder of China’s biggest privately owned car firm is the self-styled Henry Ford of China.
Geely, alongside car makers such as Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation and Beijing Automotive Import & Export Corporation, is leading the rise of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations in the sector.
Ratan Tata’s Tata Motors has already snapped up Jaguar Land Rover, while in Russia Oleg Deripaska’s Gaz is involved with Opel, but 2009 has seen China overtake the US as the biggest car market in the world and …

The Rolls Royce Ghost was announced during the 2009 Shanghai Auto Show where it received quite a welcome from fans of super luxury cars in the PRC. Pricing for the Ghost was released yesterday and is set to be priced at 3.99 million RMB, which is quite a snip when compared to the Red Flag HQ, which is priced at 8 million RMB.
The Ghost is expected to sell well in China and already has an order of 50 units on which to work on.

First it was Greatwall that get tied up in a spy gate, now its Beijing Auto.
From Bloomberg:
BEIJING (MarketWatch) — Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. is closely watching the case involving its employee Yu Xiang Dong, who was arrested and indicted in the U.S. on charges he stole Ford Motor Co. secrets, the Beijing Youth Daily reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed person from the Chinese auto maker.
Yu, who used to be a product engineer at Ford, now works in Beijing Auto’s research division, the report said.
Beijing Auto, China’s fifth-largest auto maker …

Pirates just hijacked their worst nightmare:
From the BBC:
China has pledged to make an “all out” effort to rescue a cargo ship with 25 crew on board that has been hijacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean.
The De Xin Hai was seized early on Monday about 1,100km (700 miles) east of the Somali coast.
An associate of the pirates has reportedly warned that a rescue attempt would put the crew’s lives at risk.
The EU’s anti-piracy naval mission said the ship was being tracked and the crew appeared to be in good condition.
The …