These pictures were ‘leaked’ to the Chinese press yesterday, supposedly of a future Roewe 350 super mini, which happens to look just like the Nanjing MG3 SW (streetwise).
Forgive us for sounding cynical, but reports do say that the above drawings were leaked from SAIC, but our childhood classroom doodles looked more like a real car than these do. The drawings arent totally clear if the car will be an MG3 SW esque crossover, or a small compact SUV like the Nissan Qashqai.
SAIC did actually purchase the rights to the Rover …

So says Xinhua:
 BEIJING, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) — China’s existing pump prices will go down a bit as the country begins reform of fuel taxation and refined oil product pricing system, which is expected to take place on Jan. 1 of 2009, an official said here on Tuesday.
    Xu Kunlin, vice head of the pricing department at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told reporters that there was room to lower the country’s current fuel prices.
    Current pump prices in China, if converted, were equivalent to a world crude oil …

With sales being down for the third month out of the last four, its becoming obvious that the recent economic slump has put people off buying cars, with just a mere 522,800 cars being sold. Previously China was well on to its way of hitting the million cars a month milestone, which would have paired it with the USA in terms of the worlds biggest automotive market

FAW-VW 43,508
Shanghai-VW 38,254
Dongfeng Motor Co 28,190
ShanghaiGM 32,300
Tianjin FAW 23,501
BYD Co. LTD 21,779
Beijing Hyundai Motor Co. 20,855
Guangzhou Honda Auto 20,511
Chery Auto 19,685
Geely Holdings Ltd 17,202

Despite some manufacturers doing sterling business in China, it looks like sales are down across the board as the economic slump takes hold in China..
Bloomberg tell us the bad news:
Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) — China’s November car sales plunged 10 percent, the biggest decline in more than three years, extending a global rout in auto demand that has caused carmakers to seek government support.
Sales dropped for the third month in four, sinking to 522,800 cars, sport-utility and multipurpose vehicles, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said …

The Chinese SUV market might actually be the only SUV market in the world where demand for full size, or large imported SUV’s is actually gaining ground rather than loosing ground in record numbers.
From Jan to Oct 2008, China imported 179,900 SUV’s, which is a 62.2% increase on the same period from a year earlier. Imports of regular vehicles (sedans, hatches etc) increased by 16.9% to 127,500 vehicles over the same period. Imports of small minibuses are at 20,800, an increase of 40.41% over the Jan to Oct 2007 period.
Sales …

The new Buick Regal has finally been launched in the PRC, and the prices are anything but expensive.
The first generation Buick Regal had the luxury sedan market cornered when it first arrived in China, its pricing was unbeatable and the car was very good too. The Insignia pretty much became the backbone of business, and governments across China. However, over the past few years the competition has certainly heated up, with rivals coming from Japan in form of the Accord, Camry, and the Teana, as well as domestic produce such …

Haven’t we all wanted to do this at one point:
From the Shanghai Daily:
 A TAXI passenger attacked his driver on Thursday and then stole the cab after becoming enraged when their route was blocked, police said yesterday.
The vehicle was taken just before 3:30pm in Xuhui District. The driver, surnamed Qin, drove the cab into a lane at 264 Wanping Road S.
His passenger, surnamed Wang, became enraged when a lorry blocked the cab’s way. The lorry was unloading its cargo at a food market.
Wang abused the lorry drivers, police said. Security guards …

The Panemera was recently spotted wafting around Shanghai, so its no wonder that its going to be launched in Shanghai instead of Geneva:
From Autoweek.com
Porsche says it has decided to switch the debut of the Panamera four-door coupe to the Shanghai auto show next April from the Geneva show in early March, as had been planned.
Porsche says the switch reflects the growing importance of China, India and Russia in its global sales strategy. Porsche sold 8,190 vehicles in China in fiscal 2007-2008, more than twice as many as in the previous …

The upcoming Porsche Panamera was recently seen out wafting around Beijing Shanghai, possibly showing that Porsche have put China amongst their most important markets. The Panerama is expected to be put into production in 2009 in Lepzig, Germany and then limited to just 20,000 cars per year.

Porsche have seen their market explode in China, especially with the Cayenne SUV, which has found itself practically controlling the luxury SUV segment. The Panamera will go up against the Maserati Quattroporte, which has also found itself a niche market for in …

The Chinese Governments body for over viewing issues such as car consumption, and the price of gas at the pump, The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced earlier this month that they planned to add around 1rmb to every litre of gas sold at the pump to replace the road tax fee.
The road tax fee is based on a vehicles weight, and the number of seats. So a 7 seater MPV will pay more than a 5 seat sedan. According to the government, the cancellation of road tax and …

According to one reader, CCT was mentioned in the US Senate during the grilling of a Chrysler executive on Weds 19th November 2008:
Hey just wanted to let you know that that 8 minutes ago “china car times” was mentioned by senator from North Carolina while grilling the “douchebags” executives of the Small Three while asking for 26 Billion bridge loan…
they used your post on Chrysler partnering with the chinese to make cars, the senator was grilling the execs on them asking for money will shipping jobs overseas and building …

Skoda launched last year in China with their fantastic Octavia model, which has been their only model for China to date, but that doesn’t seem to have effected sales at all. Skoda have bloomed from no where to actually being in the monthly top ten sedan sales lists on many occasions. Skoda have finally got their act together and launched the Skoda Fabia at this weeks Guangzhou Auto Show, however, it appears that the Fabia’s price tag may actually be higher than its relation, the VW Polo.
Skoda could be placing …

BYD, like many other Chinese Car makers, have come from absolutely no where to being one of the best selling brands in China in a very short time. September sales indicate that their BYD F3 model sold a staggering 12,455 cars, and the recently launched BYD F0 mini car sold an impressive 10,059 cars in the first month of its launch.
So what makes BYD so popular?
Well, the answer is quite simple. They make cars that are no fuss, they are basic motors in every sense, their designs are Toyota inspired, …

What was going through SAIC executives mind when they came up for the plans to show off ‘modified’ Roewe 550’s at the Guangzhou Auto Show this week? It looks like SAIC ram-raided Halfords over the weekend and picked up just about every tacky after market accessory they could!At least they didnt do much to alter the fantastic exterior, or hopefully dampen the excellent drive. Although perhaps the gold sequin seats would be a bit off putting on a sunny day.

We’re off to be sick …

Stretched cars are all so popular in China where they are used as chauffer driven rides, take for example Audi, who pretty much offer all of larger sedans in lengthened format for drivers and passengers, even the lowly Ford Mondeo has risen to chauffer driven status in China with it being 10mm longer than its Euro cousin. Volvo appears to be coming late to the stretched wheelbase line up, but that doesnt nessecerily mean that they are too late. Today Volvo launched the Volvo S80L sedan to the Chinese market, …

GM and Chrysler appear to be the two biggest losers from the recent credit crunch, Ford seems to be struggling, but they at least have the benefit of very strong Euro and China sales to back them up, GM are doing extremely well in China, and to a lesser extent Europe, but poor old Chrysler seems to suffering the most, with it largely relying on US sales, and what ever it can sell overseas.
Rumors have been circulating for quite some time that one of the Chinese big three (FAW, SAIC, …

Chang’an Ford finally launched the fantastic Ford Fiesta sedan yesterday at the Guangzhou Auto Show opening day. The Fiesta sedan certainly looks fantastic, just as good if not better than the hatchback. China has a certain liking for the sedan over the hatchback, perhaps just as much as their American friends, but without the added bulk of the quint essential American sedan. The Fiesta seems to pack a lot of style, into a little body. Ford say that they designed this sedan with style consciounce young …

It seems that in the end of 2008, the hottest buzzword is ‘bailout’. Many western banks got their bailouts (although I dont quite understand why my tax money was used to bail out the people I owe money too, my debtor is now indebted to me, perhaps we should call it quits) GM might get a bailout, Chrysler might get a bailout, and Ford might get a bailout, and so, Chinese makers have started looking towards their own government with ideas of bailout, except it appears to be the quint …